Water, Earth, Fire and Air
by Vampiric Dragonrider
Summary: Four Yugioh members have been chosen to wield the powers of Bending. They meet other characters from Avatar, and then all hell breaks loose, perhaps quite literally. But why were these duelists given Bending? What are they supposed to do now?
1. Kaiba

**Okay, please note that I do not know Avatar as well as I know Yugioh. So, the facts might be a bit messed up. But thank god for Wikipedia!

* * *

**

"Tai Chi."

It was so white… he couldn't tell if he was in a room, or in a wide open space.

"Tai Chi."

It was the most vibrant dream of his life. In front of him was a young lady with pale eyes, thick white hair, and a billowing lavender dress with a white train near the hem. She was holding out her hands, and cradled in them was a rock – a smooth, gray stone. Despite the vibrancy, the rock seemed fuzzy – he couldn't see it very clearly.

"Water, take, moon, tai chi, take, moon, water…"

"What are you saying!?" he demanded. She was making no sense! As she drifted closer to him, water began to trickle from walls that formed a circle around them.

"Moon, water, take, take, tai chi, water…"

The flow of water suddenly increased, each trickle spontaneously bursting like a broken dam. His eyes grew wide as water pooled at his feet. She, however, seemed oblivious to the water.

"Tai chi, moon, take, water, tai chi, take…"

How could she not be worried? Cracks spread across the white walls. The water was reaching his knees. She continued to offer the stone.

"Take, tai chi, moon, water!" What message was she trying to convey? "_Take_."

It wasn't a shout. However, it reverberated around the room with a strange power. It compelled him to lurch for the stone and grab it just as the room imploded.

* * *

Seto Kaiba shot up in his bed, covered with cold sweat, one hand clutching his heart. He was breathing heavily. Never had he had a dream so vivid in both sight and sound… all sense! The ambience, too, the aura was suspended consciousness and blockage – a message couldn't get through to him. Like a broken telephone.

His racing thoughts dominated his mind, so it was a while until he realized his other hand was clenched around something smooth and cool. He slowly unfolded his fist, his heart thumping painfully against his ribcage. In his palm was the stone.

Kaiba was starting to freak out now. It was the same color and shape as from his dream! But now he could see a design engraved on it. He ran his thumb over the ridges. It was a perfect circle with a waning crescent moon and three spiked lines that reminded him of waves.

"I must have been sleepwalking," he said out loud, but his words felt flat on his tongue. "I found a rock outside and…" but even as he spoke, he knew it was false.

Finally, he decided that even if he didn't believe in magic, the dream was important. So, despite it being early, early morning, he moved to his desk and on a sheet of paper wrote down at the top the four words the girl had been saying – tai chi, water, moon, and take. Then he scribbled down all the details he could remember in an effort to help decipher this odd dream. But he was tired. He would take it to a professional dream interpreter later.

Kaiba sighed and lay back in bed. He still held the stone, his thumb continuously tracing the symbol on it. He didn't know why he didn't throw it out the window yet. It seemed to sync with something inside him, thrumming to the rhythm of his heart, his soul. He felt… powerful, with it in his grasp.

He sighed again and closed his eyes. He'd figure it out later, he thought as he descended back into sleep.

* * *

Kaiba impatiently tapped his pencil on his desk, his chin propped on the other hand as he stared at the clock. He had made an appointment with a dream interpreter for right after school, and his patience was running thin. Each class got slower… and slower… And worse yet, his thoughts almost never left the stone in his pocket. Multiple times he realized he was tracing the engraving with his thumb, and it took a lot more willpower than necessary to remove his hand from his pocket _without_ the stone.

At last, the final bell screamed, and Kaiba practically leaped out of his seat to leave. He was out the door before anyone else, his long legs taking him quickly to the limousine that awaited him. He slid easily into the back seat, the leather cushion accepting him gratefully. He told the driver to go to his appointment. As he was chaperoned to an office building deeper into Domino, he took out a sheet of paper from his bag and smoothed it across his lap. Scrawled across the pale hills and valleys were the words detailing his dream. He had known as soon as he had woken up that morning that he would not be able to ignore this dream as he had so many others. He hated getting help for anything, but an unknown force inside him told him that it was necessary.

He arrived in good time, and strode inside. The secretary, obviously smarter than she looked, glanced at him before pressing a button on a speaker and saying, "Mr. Kaiba is here to see you, sir." She knew better than to keep him waiting. Kaiba nodded to her once before heading down an adjoining hallway. He stopped in front of a door marked, "Dr. John D. Elliot, Psychiatrist." Kaiba did not bother knocking. He simply turned the handle and walked inside, where Dr. John D. Elliot, Psychiatrist, was waiting.

One look told Kaiba that Dr. Elliot was American, with sandy hair and watery blue eyes, along with a unique skin tone. As soon as he sat down, Dr. Elliot spoke. "I know you are a very busy man, Mr. Kaiba, so let's get this done with, hmm?"

"Indeed."

Dr. Elliot leaned forward in his chair. "I understand that last night you had a vibrant and troubling dream."

Kaiba tried to ignore his annoying choice of words (he doesn't "understand" anything yet! Right?). He told himself that's what a psychiatrist does. "Yes," he said.

"I think you could be a lucky man. Not many people get dreams like these. Now, tell me everything that happened in your dream. Leave no detail out, not even how you felt during and after it."

Kaiba handed him the paper and said, "During the dream, I felt like I was suspended in a state of nothingness almost, until the end when it felt as thought everything snapped into place. When I woke up, my heart was pounding, and I was simply very confused."

Dr. Elliot nodded as he skimmed the paper and listened. "Everything in dreams symbolize something in the person's life. The white room could represent a sense of purity where evil cannot touch. The water pouring in is the opposing force. The girl and the stone… I'm not so sure about that. That's something that requires a bit more personal information, which I am sure you do not want to give… The words, lets focus on them. 'Take' obviously meant she wanted you to take the stone. 'Tai chi,' though, what does that mean to you? Have you taken it?"

"Yes," Kaiba said gruffly. "When I was younger. I found it easy."

Dr. Elliot nodded knowingly. "And water, what do you feel about it?"

Kaiba's anger level started to rise. He could've done this on his own! "I don't know, I don't think about water that often! It's around me, sure, but it's just there!" He stood up suddenly. "If you can't help me, I'm leaving." Enraged, Kaiba snatched the paper back and left. He didn't say a word about the stone coming to life.

* * *

The next few days were like a dream, while his dreams were realer than any day of his life. Every night, it was the same dream – different from the first one, however. Every night, he dreamed he was standing on a long white beach. He would walk at a slow steady pace into the water, and as much as he wanted to, he couldn't stop. He would hold his breath as his head sunk in, but as if on their own accord his arms would rise, and the ocean would bend away from him, forming a bubble. As soon as the bubble was formed, he'd be transported back to the white room. In it were three other shadows – people he couldn't see clearly – along with four symbols arranged in a square in the middle of the floor. The same symbol on his rock was nearest to him, but, like the people, he couldn't see the other three. A few seconds of standing there ticked by, before he suddenly woke up.

Every single time he woke up, it felt like he had run a marathon in winter – the same sensation as "the rock dream." He was slapped out of his reverie one day when he overheard Anzu talking worriedly to her friends. Any other time, he would have ignored them as always, but her first few words captured him.

"Yugi, the reason I've been looking so tired is I've been having these really weird dreams. The first one, this guy with long white hair and beard with a topknot, and long white robes, gave me a rock with an engraving on it. Here – look."

"Anzu, that's – how do I say it – amazing and very strange."

"I know. And every night after that I have dreamt that I was in a dancing studio, and as I dance, flames erupt around me. I felt their heat, but they don't hurt me. Then, the entire place collapses, and I suddenly find myself in a room with three other people I can't see clearly."

Kaiba risked a quick look to Yugi-tachi. Anzu was holding out something the same color and texture as his own stone, which he fingered nervously in his pocket. But how could she have dreams like his, too?

Yugi glanced his way, and he turned his gaze swiftly in another direction. He realized too late that he was clenching the rock in his fist on his desk. To make matters worse, Yugi and his friends soon surrounded him.

"I know you were eavesdropping," said Yugi, not unkindly. "Have you been having strange dreams, too?"

"No," Kaiba replied too quickly, causing Jounouchi to scowl.

"What're you holding, then?" he snarled.

"Nothing," Kaiba tried to say, but before he knew it the blond wrestled his grip open, and out fell his own stone, immediately followed by an extreme emptiness or hollowness in his heart. At any other time in his life, Jou wouldn't have gotten it so easily, but Kaiba was extremely out of it.

"This isn't nothing!" Jounouchi proclaimed loudly, holding up Kaiba's stone. "Anzu's got something like this, too!"

Anzu smacked him on the arm, sighed, then held up her own. Kaiba quietly studied it, trying to ignore the sense of emptiness that had settled in his chest. Anzu's stone was almost exactly like Kaiba's, but instead of moon and waves, the symbol was a stylized, teardrop-shaped flame forked into a trident of three tongues that tapered upward to a point encased in a perfect circle, imprinted into the rock.

"Well?"

Kaiba looked up at Anzu. "Well what?"

"Why do you have something like this?"

"Same reason you do, I guess." Kaiba suddenly glared at Jou. "Give it back."

Jounouchi faltered. "H-huh?"

"Give. It. Back," Kaiba repeated, forcefully, holding out his hand. Nervously, Jounouchi dropped it into the brunet's palm. Kaiba was relieved as the strange soul vibrations returned.

"This isn't making much sense," Yugi muttered. "Maybe there are others who have this." As if in answer, both Jounouchi's and Yugi's cell phones rang.

"Don't you know you're not supposed to have those on in school?" Kaiba taunted.

"Shuddap!" Jou snapped, before saying into his phone, "Hello? Ah, Valon? What are you do– Why are you coming here!? Eh? A weird rock?"

Yugi was having a similar conversation. "Rebecca, what's this all about… Dreams? Oh, I see. Yeah, we've had some problems."

Eventually, they snapped their phones shut and looked at the rest of their friends. "Valon's coming, he says he's been having some weird dreams," Jou said.

"Rebecca, too," Yugi added. "What could this all mean?"

Kaiba closed his eyes. "All _I_ know is that I want no part of this…"

* * *

**Phew! First chapter is DONE! I hope you enjoyed it! The other Avatar characters will come in in a few chapters... this is mainly them getting situated with their... rocks (which DO play a role, but I'm not telling you which one!) The POVs will be rotating (but still in third person). You'll see what I mean by that eventually.**

**Please review! Cheers!  
**


	2. Valon

**Hello again. You might note that even though I'm using Japanese names, I'm still using Varon's Dubbed one. I just like "Valon" better. Oh, and since I've seen the dub, he's gonna be from Australia, because in the dub he has a smexy Australian accent (:D) . Yeah, well, he has to be from **_**some**_**where… **

**To God of Zero Thousand (you didn't leave me a reply link!): I chose Rebecca because a) I kind of like her and b) I needed another girl, and Shizuka/Mai weren't cutting it. Also, She's small, that's why she made the cut. Valon is from the Orichalcos arc, the Waking the Dragons. You know, with the glowy green stones and the hexagram? He's one of the henchmen. He's the biker guy with a crush on Mai and poofy brown hair.**

**And to other general questions: Yes! The "Gaang", as it's called, will be making appearances! You'll have to wait a chapter or two, though. :P**

**

* * *

**

Valon sighed. He had called Jounouchi just before he had gotten on the plane to Tokyo. Jou was the only person he was really friends with in Domino… and these dreams were troubling him. First, a massively tall lady with green robes, white and red face makeup, and two golden fans had given him a strange rock, chanting "_Hung Gar, take, Earth, Chu Gar_". And then every night after that, earthquakes had dominated his dreams. The ground would fall underneath him, and then he'd be back in that white room… It made him afraid to fall asleep.

He ordered a soft drink from the flight attendant. They didn't serve coffee (it was too hot to have in a flying machine!), so he hoped the caffeine in the soda would stop his eyelids from drooping. He hadn't slept in almost twenty-two hours for fear of "the earthquake dreams." He tried keeping his mind busy, with a new fighting game on his DS, or maybe an exciting book, but nothing seemed to work. It didn't help that the annoying obese guy is sitting two rows away from him… And there wasn't even a screaming toddler on board!

He stared out the window, trying desperately not to fall asleep. He didn't want to see the earth crumble beneath him! He didn't want to plunge into dark endless pits! And yet, he couldn't let go of that cursed rock that started this whole mess. If he let it go, he felt utterly alone, and extremely hopeless. Like there was a giant hole in his chest. So he had to keep tracing the engraving that looked like a Chinese coin on it with his thumb. He couldn't help it.

After a few hours, the airplane finally landed in Tokyo National Airport (A/N: don't actually know if one of those exists). Valon snatched his carry-on bag and tried to get off the 747 as fast as possible. About an hour later he was in a taxi cab heading for the Kame Game shop in Domino City. Luckily for him, the driver was happily talkative, so Valon was able to stay awake a little bit longer.

When he reached the small game shop, Yugi-tachi was waiting for him. Grandpa Mutou opened the door for him and led him to the back, where the living room was. Anzu, Jounouchi, Honda, and Yugi were there, and Valon was also surprised to see Kaiba.

"Kaiba? Why are you here?" Valon blurted.

Kaiba scowled. "Look at them, not me. If I had a choice, I'd be at my company actually doing work!"

"Hey, we told ya you could go to work for a few hours!" Jou pointed out.

Kaiba tapped on his laptop. "I have this here."

Honda facepalmed. "Then why are you complaining!?"

"Relax, guys, please," Yugi pleaded.

"Hey, Jounouchi," Valon greeted. "Keepin' a good eye on Mai?"

Jou grinned. "Yes! So how are you?"

Valon shrugged, then yawned. "I've been staying awake. These dreams have been freaking me out."

Anzu nodded knowingly. "I know what you mean. Kaiba and I have been suffering too."

"What? Kaiba's having dreams too!?" Valon exclaimed. He was honestly surprised. He thought the guy was resistant to that stuff, or something. Kaiba harrumphed and glanced away. That answered _that_ question. "Anyone else having dreams?"

"Yeah, Rebecca said she's been having them," Yugi said. "Something about gliding high above the earth…"

"Hold on…" Anzu spoke. "I think I'm figuring it out… I've been having dreams of fire… Rebecca's been having dreams of air… Kaiba, you've been having dreams of water, right?" She took his silence as a yes. "Valon, you've been having dreams of earth, am I correct?"

Valon grew wary. "Where are you going with this?" She kept looking at him. "Yes," he said finally.

"It's the elements," she said matter-of-factly.

"I thought there were five, though, not four," Jou said.

"Actually, the west says there's four," Anzu replied. "Water…" she gestured to Kaiba, who growled. "…Earth…" she pointed to Valon. "…Fire…" she pointed to herself. "…and Air, which must be Rebecca."

"You're smart, Anzu!" Yugi complimented. She blushed.

"Uh… thanks… Anyways, I still have no idea what this means."

Valon was mulling it over. So Anzu was connecting them all to elements. The rocks, too, must be connected to them. He yawned again. "Let me see your stones, guys," he suggested. Anzu held hers out, and Kaiba grudgingly did the same. Yes, there was a symbol! "The symbols must represent our elements, then," Valon stated. He yawned once more.

Kaiba shrugged. "Probably. When is that midget coming?"

"_Rebecca_," Yugi replied, stressing her name, "should be here in roughly an hour. She's coming from California."

"That's good," Valon said, yawning again.

"Would you like to sleep here?" Yugi offered. "You look awfully tired."

Valon quickly shook his head. "No, that's not necessary, Yugi." In truth, he was afraid. The dreams felt so real. He thought he was going to die every time. Kaiba cast him a sidelong glance.

"You can't be scared of these things," he scoffed. "They're just dreams. You can't die in a dream."

Valon faltered. It was as if he knew what he was thinking! "Ah, ah, that's not it!" But even as he racked his brains, he knew there wasn't a viable excuse. Not for the aggressive CEO at least… and then something dawned on him. "But, I think some of the elements are backwards," he said quickly, his mouth going faster than his consciousness. "Water is supposed to be graceful and tranquil, while fire is supposed to be aggressive and, well, fiery. But Anzu, you're not aggressive or fiery, and Kaiba's definitely not tranquil, no offense–"

"None taken."

"–So why are they like that?"

They stared at him – well, except for Kaiba, who was simply relaxing with his eyes closed on the couch. "Valon, I really think you should sleep here," Yugi offered again. "You may or may not be making sense, but no one should be this tired…"

"Hey, I manage."

"…Shut up Kaiba. Anyway, Valon, really you should rest. At least for an hour until Rebecca gets here. I mean, how fast does one go into the dream state anyway?"

"Actually, it takes 45 minutes to an hour to go into REM–"

"Kaiba! Just be quiet, please!" Kaiba shot the smaller boy an angry look. Yugi turned his attentions back to Valon. "Please?"

Valon sighed. "Fine, I guess." He moved over to a plush armchair and sat down on it. Maybe if he slept, he'd feel more like himself. It he was lucky, he wouldn't dream.

However, as he closed his eyes, Luck was against him. It felt like in no time, he was back in his dream. He was on a wide open plain. Suddenly, all around him the earth crumbled and fell away, leaving him on a circle of land. He thrust his arms apart, and what was left of the ground split beneath him and he fell down, down, down into the dark emptiness. A few seconds of falling meant he was transported again to that white room with the symbols on the floor. The other shadows of people weren't there, but he could see two other symbols now, the fire and the water one. He stood still, expecting to wake up, but he remained.

Curious now, he stepped closer to the symbols. He bent down and brushed his fingers against his own symbol of a square encased in a circle. It suddenly glowed white hot, and as he jerked back, he also jerked awake. He shot forward, almost knocking heads with Jou, who was, slightly stupidly, right in his face. "What!?" Valon queried, slightly angry.

"You were dreaming!" Jounouchi said, as if obvious.

"I got that part," Valon remarked dryly, struggling a little to a more upright sitting position. "Why were you in my face?"

Jounouchi pulled back and put a hand behind his head. "Eh… well… You started breathing really heavy, and stuff, so we got kind of worried…"

Valon glanced around the room, noticing that it was empty, even devoid of the notorious Kaiba. "Where is everyone?" Jou glanced behind him.

"They went outside to greet Rebecca," the blond said. "I stayed so I could make sure you were okay, and Kaiba… went somewhere…" Valon grinned a little. "Feelin' better?"

Valon stretched and yawned. "Yeah, I think so… Let's go outside. I don't believe I ever officially met Rebecca." Jou nodded his head eagerly and, beaming, led Valon outside in time to see a little girl with blonde hair in pigtails and freckles glomp Yugi after emerging from a taxi.

"There's my Yugi!" she cried. "I've missed you, my love!" Valon raised an eyebrow and glanced at Anzu, who was growing red in anger.

Yugi blushed. "Er, that's great, Rebecca… But, I believe you wanted to talk about a dream…?"

Rebecca pulled back and withdrew a rock from a small pouch looped around her waist. "Mhmm!" she said happily. She held it forward, and Valon saw the symbol on it. It was a circle, of course, with a swirl in it, half imprinted, that went from the top and curved slightly into the middle. It kind of reminded him of ice cream… "I didn't know who else to come to, because my grandpa didn't know anything about it either, and I can't find heads or tails of it in any history book in my possession!"

Kaiba appeared by Valon's shoulder suddenly, surprising the poor biker. "So she's finally arrived, huh? It's about time."

"You didn't have to come," Anzu fumed. Valon was curious as to why she was suddenly worked up. "If you ever picked up our phone calls, you could've worked all afternoon until Rebecca and Valon came!"

"But I don't," Kaiba replied casually, "because I don't want to be bothered by dorks like you."

"We're not dorks, you're just a prick!"

"Are we expanding our vocabulary now? Try adding infuriating."

Anzu huffed and turned away to the smirk of Kaiba. "And I win again," he muttered under his breath so quietly, Valon thought he had imagined it for a few seconds.

"So what are we going to do now?" the biker asked.

Rebecca leaned against Yugi and stretched. "I don't know, but I want to get some sleep!"

Valon thought back to the dream he just had. "Actually, that's not a bad idea," he said, looking at first Kaiba, then Anzu and Rebecca. "Now that we're all here, I have the feeling something special will happen."

It was Kaiba's turn to huff. "That's ridiculous. I've had enough of this ludicrousness. I'm going home." He marched off into the night before anyone could stop him.

Yugi turned to Rebecca and Valon. "You guys can stay here at the game shop for your stay, if that's fine."

A fat smile plastered itself on Rebecca's face. "Of course, of course!"

Valon, on the other hand, shrugged. "If it's alright with your family, then sure. I've got no where else to go at the moment."

"We'll go home too," Honda said, yawning. "Good night, you guys."

"'Night," they replied in turn. Soon it was just Rebecca, Valon, and Yugi on the front step. "Sweet dreams, guys," Yugi said once they were inside again. "And I mean it."

* * *

**The ending was a little forced. Sorry… Also, I'm still a little shaky on how Valon should act, so he might seem a little OOC for a chapter or two. But for this chapter, he has a reason! :3 He's scared of his dreams!!!!!! Anyways, hope you enjoyed! And please review! Thanks. Cheers!**


	3. Anzu

** But for this chapter, he has a reason! :3 He's scared of his dreams!!!!!! Anyways, hope you enjoyed! And please review! Thanks. Cheers!**

**I'm back! This story has multiple reasons for me writing it before Pokémon Hearts or Flying Mutant Bird Kid Hybrids were done. The biggest reason is that I'm trudging through sludge for Hybrids and PH a bit. This is so I can get rid of some of my creative energy. Anyways, Cheers!**

**Review Reply to dr-fan/mai-lover: "**bervo youer-way-yog-benders-power-aer-out-of-order  
-tea-sood-be-whater-like-kataera-kiba-zouko&yugi-anig,s-powers  
now-what-mai-beander-mai-wood-have oh i-dislike-rebccb" **WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!? I mean, really. I'm usually pretty good at deciphering stuff, but… Alright, I think I might understand? You think the elements are out of order? And you think Téa should be water, not fire? You think Mai should have air, not Rebecca? Well, tough luck. That's part of the master plan. And what's that part about Kaiba, Zuko, and Yugi? And didn't I address all these things? And next time, please try to write in English.

* * *

**

Anzu snuggled deeper under her cocoon of covers, one hand curled around the stone as she pushed her hands under her pillow. She almost feared that she'd be too excited to sleep. Something different was finally going to happen! Good or bad, it should be better than those fiery dreams. She took deep breaths and concentrated on the warmth of her bed, relaxing all of her muscles. Before she realized it, she was dreaming.

It was the dancing studio again. With one leg on the bar, she twisted around with her arms outstretched. She knew what was going to happen. As she did more dance moves, more and more of the dance floor ignited, the mirrors reflecting all merrily. The ceiling caught fire, and the beams groaned and snapped. She braced herself, and once again found herself in the white room.

She could see everyone. They appeared to be waiting for her, even Kaiba. All four symbols were on the floor. Kaiba was glaring at her from the other side, while Rebecca was on her left, and Valon was on her right.

"Took you long enough," Kaiba growled.

"I though you didn't want to be here!?" Rebecca snapped at him.

"I had the farthest to go," Anzu said, trying not to get fired up. The dream world wasn't the best place to get mad. Not that that stopped Kaiba.

"I don't even want to do this!" Kaiba raged. "All this hocus-pocus nonsense! The only reason I'm still here is because this place won't let me wake up!"

"Kaiba, relax," Valon spoke. "We need to figure out why we're still here, instead of being gone in a few seconds."

Anzu pondered Valon's last statement. She stared at the symbols on the floor, now all crisp and boldly outlined. She stepped towards hers and bent down to brush her fingers against it.

"Don't do that!" Valon said suddenly. She looked at him, confused. "I tried that, and it grew hot."

"It might be different this time," Anzu pointed out. "We don't know what could happen here."

"Don't be an idiot, Mazaki," Kaiba said, crossing his arms. She stood up again, glaring at him for a second before another idea coming to her.

"What if we… touched, Kaiba?"

The CEO faltered. "What? What are you talking about?"

"Something might happen. We're opposite elements, after all. And besides, no one else will know…"

"It's worth a shot," Rebecca added.

Kaiba considered it, before shrugging and stepping forward. Anzu reached out her hand, and he held up his. Their fingertips touched, and then something strange and powerful happened. A bright white light (I'M A POET!) exploded from the space between their hands, almost shoving them apart. The symbols expanded so that they were standing on them, and they too glowed brightly. Anzu suddenly felt a pain in her chest, like massive claws were ripping through her heart to get her soul, or something. And then, a pair of hands pushed her away, and startled, she looked into narrow blue eyes.

As she fell backwards, a pillar of light rose up around Kaiba. Valon and Rebecca raced to her side, and they watched as Kaiba's form hovered slightly, everything on him floating up ever so slightly.

"What's happening!?" Rebecca cried.

"He… he saved me," Anzu said, shocked. "Seto Kaiba saved me?"

Valon simply looked on in awe.

"What now?" Rebecca asked, her voice panic-stricken, as she turned towards Anzu.

"Um… I… I don't know…" Her voice started to choke up a little. She couldn't wrench her eyes away from the taller boy's motionless form. It was as if he was devoid of life. And she had done this to him. Her eyes began to sting with tears. As much as she disliked Kaiba… what had she done to him?

Suddenly, it all disappeared, and she woke up with a scream.

* * *

Anzu raced towards Yugi's house, the adrenaline in her veins telling her to pay no heed to her fatigue. It was very dark, and there was a persistent, wet fog. She cursed silently. Every drop of water reminded her of Kaiba, now. She finally reached the Kame Game shop. Yugi was waiting for her, worry written across his face. Of course he knew what had happened. Rebecca and Valon had been there, too.

"Anzu, are you alright?" Yugi asked kindly.

She couldn't take it. "It's all my fault!" she blurted. "I suggested it, and he pushed me away, and so I'm here and he's not!"

Yugi put a hand on her arm. "Anzu, calm down. We don't really understand what happened more than you do."

As if in contradiction, the Mutou's phone rang. Yugi told Anzu to sit down on the couch before he ran to pick it up. Anzu listened to the conversation, her guilt slowly building into a knot in her stomach.

"Mokuba? What's wrong? Huh? What!? Kaiba won't wake up!? Okay, Mokuba, we'll be right over there. No, don't tell anyone else. Yes, Jou and Honda's okay, but no one outside our circle, okay?" Yugi reentered the room. "We should head over to Kaiba's house. According to Mokuba, he's not doing so well." He looked apologetically at Anzu. "I'm sorry, this must… really…"

"It's fine," Anzu said quickly, cutting him off and blinking away hot tears. "Well, of course it's not fine, but I can handle it." Yugi smiled at her.

"Let's go."

* * *

A limo had come to pick them up. Anzu guiltily sunk into the heated leather cushions. The others did the same. They arrived at the Kaibas' house, a massive ornate building with three floors. It was spread across a large expanse of grass, with balconies at most of the windows. Anzu peeked into one of the windows, and it looked charred and black, like a fire had broken out in that room. She quickly turned a blind eye in time to hear Rebecca mutter, "What use does he have for all this space anyway?"

"It used to be his stepfather's, Rebecca," Yugi said. "Remember that."

"Yeah, whatever."

They stepped out of the vehicle and wandered towards the front door. Mokuba threw it open for them, and they saw that Jou and Honda were already inside. Despite Mokuba's tear-stricken face, Anzu couldn't help but admire how beautiful their household was. Fancy furniture – the kind that looked like you shouldn't sit on it – was sporadically placed around the house. The walls were hauntingly bare, with dusty red wallpaper devoid of artwork or anything of the sort. She could see through open doors that it seemed there was a fireplace in every room.

The young Kaiba led the small group upstairs and down a long hallway lit by what looked like fancy oil lamps but were actually battery-powered, flickering lights meant to mimic a flame. Anzu thought it was a little much. But then again, wasn't Gozaburo a little much? They entered a large bedroom. Motionless on a large four-poster bed with light blue covers was Seto Kaiba. He looked to be dead, save for shallow breathing and a soft sheen of cold sweat. Valon took off one glove and measured Kaiba's pulse from the wrist.

"I've seen this before," he said sadly. "His soul's been stolen." Of course he should know, Anzu though miserably. He once stole souls too.

"But that doesn't make sense," Yugi said quietly, almost thinking to himself if not for the communicative way he was speaking. "There's nobody after him that can steal souls. Is there?"

Mokuba shook his head.

"No _body_ is after him," Anzu thought out loud. "Some_thing_ is after us four." She glanced at Rebecca and Valon. "I don't think we're safe when we sleep anymore."

* * *

**I know, it's a little short. I'm cutting it off so that next chapter, it'll be Rebecca's Third Person POV (if that makes sense). I also know that this chapter could be slightly confusing... but that part with Kaiba and Anzu in the dream world? I made it as not-awkward as possible. And I am seriously sorry if my Elemental Four are awkward in their interactions... totally my fault... But I'm just trying to fall into step here. **

**Another reason it's cut short: It's crucial I stop it here, so that it'll smooth over better. It's like deciding whether to make the arm separate, or pull it off of the body in the making of a clay sculpture. Just... bear with me for a few more chapters.**

**Cheers! And please review! Even if it's just a "Nice job" (though I'd rather you try better than that). I just want to know if you like it or not. For the most part...  
**


	4. Rebecca

**In case you couldn't figure it out, here's the deal with my responses to the reviews you send me. If you don't leave a reply link, then I'll reply to you before I start the next chapter (you know, in the author's note at the beginning). So don't leave anything embarrassing or anything! :3 And, if you DO leave a reply link, I'll respond to you as soon as I check my mail (which is in general at least once a day). And if you address something in my story that should be pointed out (like the "Anzu has fire and Kaiba has water!? WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?" thing), I will either answer to it here–in the beginning author's note–or answer to it in the actual story, or sometimes both for extra clarity. :) Cheers!

* * *

**

"I don't think we're safe when we sleep anymore."

Rebecca stared disbelievingly at Anzu. "How can we not sleep!?" she cried. Glancing at Yugi, she added, "I need my beauty sleep for Yugi."

Anzu glared at her. "I never said we couldn't sleep. There has to be protective spells against this kind of stuff."

Mokuba broke tearfully in. "I'm a bit more easy-going than my big brother, guys, but really, I don't think hocus pocus will solve anything!"

Rebecca looked back at Kaiba. She never really liked him. He was arrogant, and selfish, and egotistical… Who cares that he had a rough childhood? That's no reason to be cruel to everyone. But she still didn't think anyone should suffer. "I think Mokuba's right. Bringing magic in now is stupid."

"But what should we do?" Jounouchi inquired. "I sure can't think of anything."

Rebecca's eyelids began to droop. "I want to go back to sleep now…"

"I thought we decided against that," Valon pointed out.

"Who cares."

"I dunno," Yugi said, "you got into this mess through the dream place. Maybe you can fix it there, too."

"Why don't you guys stay here overnight?" Mokuba suggested. There was no friendly smile on his face.

"Sure, munchkin," Jou said, grinning anyway. "We'll keep ya company." Mokuba just looked at him. Any other day, he would have smiled, but tonight he didn't.

"Great," Rebecca huffed. "Show me a room, huh?"

* * *

Rebecca got right to sleep. She didn't care that she didn't have her pajamas, and her outfit would get wrinkled, she just wanted to experience the dream again.

She fell right into it. She was standing on a cliff holding a staff that popped open to reveal that it was a glider. She jumped off the cliff, and gusts of air held her up as she held the glider over her head. She sighed happily and prepared for the loop that would land her in the white room. As she completed it, she found herself standing again.

She looked around. Valon and Anzu were there, too. Kaiba was still suspended strangely in the pillar of light. It made her skin crawl to look at him.

"So what now!?" she cried furiously. "We're still in the same place we were!"

"Relax, Rebecca, we'll think of something…" Anzu tried half-heartedly.

Suddenly, a black swirling portal appeared in the ground in front of Anzu. Out of it rose four figures. Rebecca and Valon quickly joined Anzu's side.

Once they were at the same level as them, the portal closed. Rebecca recognized one of them – an old man in orange robes with an arrow on his bald head and a white handlebar mustache. There was also a white haired girl with pale blue eyes, a tall lady with a lot of facial makeup, and another old man in red robes with a top knot on his head. They were all floating slightly.

"Wait, I recognize you!" Rebecca cried. "You gave me that stone that started this whole mess!"

"No, dear Rebecca," the old man in orange robes said calmly. "This was always going to happen. We were simply trying to stop it."

"Please, tell us what's going on," Anzu pleaded. Was that unshed tears clouding her voice?

"Tell us who you are!" Rebecca demanded, a little freaked out that he knew her name. "And everything else! Like, why is Kaiba there? What are these stones for!?"

"Calm down," the old man in red robes with a top knot said. "Allow us to begin. My name is Roku. I was once what was called the Avatar, which will be explained in a moment."

"I am Yue," the white haired girl introduced sadly, glancing behind her shoulder at the lifeless Kaiba. "Spirit of the moon."

"I am Kyoshi," the tall lady said. "I, too, was once an Avatar."

"And I am Monk Gyatso," the old man in orange robes said. "I shall give you some background information before we explain what is so very crucial for you to do.

"We come from a world parallel to this one. There, there are four nations: The Fire Nation, the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, and the Air Nomads. In each nation, there are people who can control an element. Strictly speaking, they 'bend' it. These people cannot bend any other element than their own."

"This is where the Avatars come in," Kyoshi said. "Every generation an Avatar is born. The Avatar can and must learn the other three elements in addition to their own. They keep the peace in the world. The finer details of how they are chosen are not necessary, and our time is short. Do you understand everything we've told you so far?"

"I think so," Rebecca said slowly. "Are you saying we can bend the elements too?"

Yue nodded. "Yes. We granted you each an element to bend. Water, Earth, Fire, and Air, but I think you knew that."

"Yes, we did," Valon said. "Please, continue. What are these rocks for?"

Roku spoke up. "The rocks are, as you know, no ordinary stones. It was through these that we transferred the bending abilities to you. But they serve another purpose."

"This world is under a huge threat," Gyatso cut in.

"Gee, that's a surprise," Anzu muttered.

"By demons." Roku continued. "Monsters, really, of all kinds. Most of them wish to destroy humans and build their society on Earth. They exist in the world between ours, the Spirit World."

"We tried to stop them, but we cannot do anything," Yue said. "We ourselves are a part of the Spirit World, but we are powerless against them."

"We gave you the stones, but there is a terrible side effect," Kyoshi said. "But we did not think it would take this long for you to sync with them. While you have not synced, you become a portal between this world and other worlds."

"It's like a huge, gaping mouth," Gyatso offered. "But it only activates in certain ways. If you touch the person holding your opposite element, your soul will be sealed, and your body is left as the portal. If you stand in the symbols on the floor there, your soul will also be sealed. Of course, this is not the only way for the monsters to get through, but it is the easiest. It is only a matter of time now before demons use your friend Seto's body as a portal."

Anzu gasped. "P-please tell me there's some way to unseal him!"

"Of course there is," Yue said softly. "Water is the easiest to unseal. As soon as you can, under the moonlight bring him to any body of water. Rebecca, you must hold his stone as well as yours as you all fall asleep under the moon by the water. Air is most compatible with water, Rebecca, do not argue, please. Once you are back here, Rebecca, you must thrust the hand holding his stone into the light, and assist him in holding it. Then, I will break the seal."

Anzu sighed in relief. Then Valon asked a question. "What exactly is this place?"

"This is a sanctuary we have created to protect you," Roku said. "Until, that is, you sync, but this is already falling apart."

The black portal opened again underneath them. "Our time is short," Kyoshi said. "You must sync as soon as possible, after you unseal Seto's soul. You must not try to access the Spirit World, or come back here, until you are prepared."

"Wait!" Rebecca cried as they began to sink lower. "How do we sync!"

"There's no time for that, you'll figure it out," Gyatso was saying quickly. "Another portal is opening, a huge one, that will transfer matter from the parallel world to this planet. It will open in two days. Please, accept them."

The portal closed over their heads, and the white world vanished as Rebecca woke up screaming. Two other screams echoed her, and she raced down the hall to Kaiba's room.

Valon and Anzu met her there, soon followed by Jou, Honda, Yugi, and Mokuba.

"What's the matter!?" Mokuba asked them desperately. "Have you fixed my Big Brother?"

"No, but we know how to, now," Anzu said. "Mokuba, do you have an outside pond, or something?"

"Y-yeah, why?"

Rebecca snatched up Kaiba's rock from where it had been placed on the bedside table. "We need a body of water." Suddenly, she stopped and cried out in horror. They others soon saw why.

Kaiba's body was convulsing. His eyes were open wide, and they were rolled back to reveal the whites of his eyes. His back was arching as he writhed as if in pain, his mouth lolling open as he let out an ear-piercing shriek like a banshee.

"What's happening!?!?!?" Mokuba yelled, tears falling down his face in a storm as he rushed to the side of the bed. "Big Brother!"

"Mokuba, get away!" Valon shouted suddenly, pulling the younger boy away by the shoulders. "Listen, guys, he's being used as a portal for a monster."

"What!?"

"Mokuba, please, just go along with this!" Valon snapped, his teasing aura gone. "Anyone who did not receive a stone must leave. NOW!" He roared the last part, and everyone, even Mokuba, left in a hurry, leaving Rebecca, Anzu, and him.

"What now?" Anzu asked in a small voice, backed against the wall. It fell eerily silent as Kaiba suddenly flopped back into place. It would've seemed as if nothing had happened if his eyes weren't still opened and rolled back, or if he wasn't making strangled gasping noises. Suddenly, his eyes and mouth glowed, and beams of light shout out, changing from a white to a deep midnight blue, and then formed a lizard-like monster of at least ten feet. It stopped glowing save for an orb in its chest, and it roared as glowing pale blue lines branched from it. Its hands were four talons, its feet trunks with three stubby dinosaur toes. It was bipedal like a human, with a little bit of spikes on its head running down its back and an almost beaked face. It roared at the rooms occupants.

"What now?" Anzu repeated, obviously frightened.

"We kill it," Rebecca said simply.

"But how!?" Anzu cried. Before any of them could react, the creature thrust a hand at them. It extended like water, and they dove out of the way. The wall was relatively undamaged, save for a wet splotch.

"There has to be a weak point of some kind!" Rebecca said, frustrated.

Valon glanced around the room, looking for ideas, for weapons. Kaiba had returned to his comatose state. There was a tall lit lamp plugged into the wall in the corner Valon was in. Other than a bedside table and the CEO's dresser and bed, there wasn't much furniture.

Anzu had decided to take action and throw her shoes at the creature, for the lack of a better projectile. The shoes plopped through the lizard creature exactly as if it was water. It snarled and turned on her, thrusting out its hand once more. Anzu screamed and ducked.

Suddenly, Rebecca had an idea. Maybe… "Hey guys, aim for the glowy orb in its chest! It could be its heart!"

"And thus it's weak spot…" Valon mused. A plan quickly formed in his mind. He grabbed the lamp, yanking it out of the socket, and smashed it against the wall. The light bulb shattered and the lamp shade flew off. He brandished it like a spear.

The creature roared with frustration at not being able to kill its victims, and it didn't help that Valon kicked the lamp shade into its leg. "Hey, over here!" he shouted. The creature roared once more and shot its liquid like hand at Valon. He sidestepped it and thrust it deep inside the creature. Indeed, it seemed to be made of water, seeing as the lamp slid easily into it. It pierced the glowing orb.

The creature roared, this time in pain, and pretty much exploded. Yup. Blue goop was blasted everywhere before it fizzed and slowly evaporated.

"Nice thinking," Anzu complimented, unable to say anything else. Valon merely stood up straight again and shrugged.

"That seemed way too easy," Rebecca noted suspiciously.

"Just because they're big doesn't mean they're difficult to beat," Valon pointed out.

"Guess you're right…"

Mokuba poked his head back into the room. "Are you guys all right? Is my brother all right?"

"Everything's fine, Mokuba," Anzu assured him. "We took care of it."

"Okay, okay," Rebecca said annoyed. "We need to get him outside. YO! JOUNOUCHI AND HONDA! GET YOUR BUTTS IN HERE!"

Everyone else filed back inside the room. "What do you want?" Jou asked, slightly miffed.

Rebecca pointed out the window. "The moon is nearing the horizon. We need Kaiba to be outside in less than five minutes next to the pond. Mokuba, lead them."

"You're the boss…" Mokuba said sadly as Jou and Honda, after a little bit of convincing from Yugi, hefted the CEO up with caution and dragged him out of the room.

* * *

They were back in the white room for the third time that night. If Rebecca had to do this one more time, she was gonna fry that Monk Gyatso. She did not appreciate being woken up multiple times in one night.

She did as she was told and went over to the large pillar of light surrounding Kaiba. Anzu and Valon were at the other side of the room. Of course, they had no idea what was going to happen, so precautions had to be taken. Rebecca took a deep breath and thrust the hand holding Kaiba's stone into the light. As soon as she did, winds whipped around her, trying to push her away. Voices slithered past her ears, whispering _no! Don't close our portal! We need to get out! _She kept pushing until she felt her skin brush against Kaiba's. She shoved the rock into his hand, and then everything abruptly stopped.

* * *

**Kudos to Windona for telling me to make the fight scene a little longer. *shrugs* Anyway, I just had to write something (despite me promising to have the next thing I post be a Halloween Special), and this was the easiest choice. And if it seems like it ended way too abruptly, I meant to do that. Next chapter, it's centered around Kaiba, and it needs to be for what I'm planning... Cheers! Please review!**


	5. Water

**Thanks for reviewing, guys! I try to keep this Author's note short. It's the story you want, not this. Cheers!**

**Sorry this took so long. My computer's hard drive crashed because of a virus. No really. It did. After I got the computer back, I was told three things to help avoid these types of virus. I'll be glad to tell you too if you ask in a review, but I don't want to bore you here. (read: I'm to lazy to type it here.) ;)

* * *

**

Seto Kaiba sucked in a breath with a gasping sound, as if he hadn't breathed for a thousand years. He lurched to a sitting position, but as he did so his hand slipped into water. Gasping heavily, he withdrew his hand from the pond. His other hand was clutching his stone, and for once he was glad of its thrumming existence. He took a look at his surroundings. He appeared to be outside his house, next to the pond. Anzu, Valon, and Rebecca were scattered around them, just beginning to stir from their sleep. The east was lighting up with the pale yellows and blues and grays of morning. The moon was set, no longer visible. Kaiba guessed it was roughly six AM.

He stood up only to sit back down as a wave of dizziness washed over him. He thought he was going to faint, but the wave passed, and he stood up once more. His head pounded like someone was using a sledgehammer to whack a blunt iron nail into his brain. His fist was clenching his stone so hard, he felt for sure he would get an imprint of the engraving on his palm forever!

He didn't remember much what had happened. He and Anzu had touched fingertips, and then… it was all a blur. The only thing he could remember was voices. He couldn't recall exactly what they said, but he remembered the feeling. He shivered. The voices had felt like ice cold angry snakes and slow-moving large spiders. Like impending doom.

The others on the ground woke up finally. They saw him standing, and grins broke out. "It worked!" Rebecca cried.

"You're awake!" Anzu exclaimed happily.

"Your powers of observation amaze me, Mazaki," Kaiba huffed.

"Same old Kaiba," Valon joked. And then he frowned. "Listen, Kaiba, we have to tell you something."

"What is it?" the CEO harrumphed, folding his arms across his chest.

Valon opened his mouth and spilled everything that had happened. He told Kaiba about the monster they killed, about how his soul was sealed, about the four spirits, the Spirit World, and the parallel world. He explained how demons want to get from the Spirit World and into Earth, and how until they "sync" with the stones (which they have no idea how to), they must not go back to that white room. He said that tomorrow, another portal will open up, and the old man Gyatso had made it sound like people were coming through, believe it or not.

Kaiba took it all in stride. Even when he was told of how the creature had used his body as a portal, his expression did not change. So the lady in the flowing dress who had given him the stone was Yue, spirit of the moon. Amazingly, he was not surprised. Like he… somehow knew that was it. Like it couldn't be any other way.

"Nii-sama!!!!" a joyful voice shouted. Kaiba turned just in time to be glomped by Mokuba. He gratefully hugged his little brother back, whose eyes were wet with tears. "Seto, I thought I had lost you for good!"

"I don't get taken down that easily," Kaiba reminded him, ruffling his black hair.

"Sorry to break up the family reunion, and all," Rebecca rudely cut in, "but we need to figure out how to 'sync' with our rocks." She made quotations in the air with her fingers when she said "sync."

Mokuba stepped back and looked up at Kaiba. "What does she mean, Seto?"

"None of us really knows," he replied. For some reason, he glanced up at Yugi, who had followed Mokuba outside with Honda and Jounouchi. "The instructions didn't give us a lot of information." He was careful to avoid using words like "the spirits" or even "they". The other three "stone-holders" shrugged in agreement.

"But what are you guys gonna do with such little information?" Yugi asked. "You can only complete a puzzle when you have the pieces."

Kaiba lifted his hand and uncurled his fingers so that the stone was on his face-up palm, the engraving of the moon and waves staring up at him. Suddenly, his head felt light as dizziness washed over him. His vision speckled black and gray. Next thing he knew, he was on the ground again and everyone was standing over him. Did he just faint?

"What are you staring at!?" he spat. "Go away!"

"But you fainted," Anzu said worriedly. "Fainting is never good."

"I'm fine," he hissed, moving first to a sitting position, and then struggling to his feet. "See? Perfectly okay."

"Stop trying to fool us," Yugi told him. "We're not that stupid."

Kaiba sighed. "Stop trying to become friends with me, and I'll think about it."

"You can't blackmail us like that. If not friends, we're your allies," Yugi pressed.

"Whatever." Restlessness seized him. Kaiba turned and walked to the other side of the pond. He knew that if he told everyone to leave, they wouldn't. And besides, it wasn't a very big pond, although quite deep. About 100 square feet with a few large goldfish swimming in it. He sat back down on its bank and noticed there was a black-speckled white one in the water. Was that there before? He didn't know. He didn't pay much attention to the fish anyway.

He had a strong desire to throw the stone into the water so that it could sink to the bottom and hide in the mud. He opened his hand again to look at the stone. What was he supposed to do with it, anyway? Syncing with rocks… that just sounds ridiculous!

"Anyway," Yugi was saying, "Kaiba obviously doesn't want to talk to us, and school is starting in an hour. We should all go, you guys."

_Good riddance_, Kaiba thought. Restlessness took hold once more, and he stood up. Mokuba was showing Yugi and his friends the exit, so they all had their backs turned. He took a step to the side and slipped. With a shout and a splash, he fell into the pond. Now, this pond might have only been roughly ten-by-ten feet, but it was a good ten feet deep, too. Bubbles cascaded above him as he sunk to the bottom. As his back hit the mud, he saw the rock falling slowly towards him. His lungs started to burn – he hadn't taken in much breath when his head had submerged – but still he pushed off only slightly so that he might as well have been standing on the bottom. He held both hands out, cupping them together like Yue had when presenting it to him, and caught it.

The engraving glowed bluely at him as if there was a bright light from deep inside it, and the lines were the only windows. Suddenly, his lack of oxygen didn't matter anymore. The people shouting at him four feet above his head didn't matter anymore. It was just him and the stone. A cherubic humming filled his ears, and a sense of weightlessness penetrated deep inside him. The glow from the stone infected the water around him, making it all glow this deep sapphire. The liquid lifted him up until his head broke the surface, and then it lifted him up some more. It looked as if he was standing on the water. The people around him gasped, but that didn't matter to him.

His hands broke their cup formation and his arms floated out like a ballerina might do. The stone hovered where it was, neither falling nor rising. Kaiba was dimly aware that he wasn't wet anymore. Indeed, droplets of the glowing sapphire floated around him like rain frozen in time.

As he stared at the stone, it burst into a million glowing pieces. His head jerked back as the particles shot at his forehead. Everything was blasted away from him. The people around him were knocked backwards and spattered with the droplets with the force. The sapphire glow enveloped Kaiba to the point where he only looked like a human-shaped blob of mysterious material. His arms stretched out to both sides like a crucifix, and as his company watched, the glow slowly faded away. With a slight groan, he fell backwards, but not quickly. He slowly descended onto the grass behind him and was softly placed there.

Yugi and the others cautiously gathered around him. Kaiba's hair was a complete mess, and his face looked drawn and pale. But that wasn't the first thing they noticed. His clothes had changed. He now wore a skin-tight, black boy's tank top, a metallic gray belt with a pure silver, rectangular belt buckle, black pants, and black shoes like the ones he wore at battle city. On the buckle, the symbol that was previously on his stone was etched. A black belt was also on his left wrist. It looked like a thinner version of what Yugi often wore on his neck, only black. The next thing they noticed, by brushing his bangs aside, was that his symbol of the moon and waves was tattooed in the center of his forehead. It was the same sapphire blue as the water when it had glowed.

"What just happened?" Jou asked, breaking the deep silence that had settled.

"I… I think he just synced with his stone," Anzu said with awe.

* * *

"Welcome, Seto."

Kaiba turned. Where was he? It looked like a forest colored sepia, except for the river he stood in front of. It was three feet across, and very calm. Its light crystalline blue stuck out like a sore thumb as it wove in and out of the thick, old trees and through the brown leaves that littered the ground. He was standing at the straightest part, it seemed. Across the river was the spirit. Yue.

"Where am I? What just happened?" He wanted to get angry, to lash out at this godforsaken spirit, but for some reason, he couldn't. This place was a place of tranquility. It did not allow anger.

"You have synced with the stone. You have become one with the power I have given you."

Kaiba blinked at her. "So… what now?"

"You now have the ability to bend the water, just like the moon. I have summoned you here, to this part of the Spirit World, in order to teach you a few moves to help you on your journey to master the water."

Mastering the water, huh? He liked the way that sounded.

"How do you mean?"

"Watch, listen, and learn," Yue told him. She took a firm stance, her left foot in front of her right, and put her hands out in front of her, palms forward and elbows slightly bent. "The moon moves the tides by pushing and pulling." She leaned forward, then fluidly leaned back while simultaneously drawing her hands back towards her, letting her fingers dip down. She leaned forward again, and she pressed her palms back out. As she repeated this process, a section of the water in front of her lifted slightly and danced back and forth. She stopped. "Now, you do it."

Kaiba stared at her disbelievingly, but this wasn't the place to disagree. He took a firm stance like she did and mimicked her movements. He imagined he felt himself become a wave, feeling the motion of waltzing back and forth. When he looked at the water, it was being pushed and pulled just like Yue had showed.

"Very good," she told him. Kaiba stood straight again, in a neutral position. "I suppose you have figured out by now that Waterbending is all about feeling the motion, becoming the water. You are not controlling the water. You are guiding it. A Waterbender must be a wave to create one. Do you understand?"

"I think so."

"Good. Now listen once more. I have one more move to teach you before I send you back to your friends."

"They're not my–"

"Shh. Watch, listen, and learn." She took her stance again, but this time stood slightly like an archer would with her torso twisted slightly. Her left hand was farther out than her right, but both elbows were bent, and both hands appeared relaxed. "This motion is all about picking up a bit of the water and guiding it around your body." Her right hand led the way. It moved back smoothly for a second before her left hand followed suit. A clump of water slid out like a worm and she used her entire body to move it around her. She controlled it directly with her hands, and indirectly with her body. After a little while, she sent it back to the river. "Now, you do it."

Once more, Kaiba mimicked her. The feeling this time felt slightly different than the last move. He felt like he was straining the water. He successfully picked up the water and brought it towards him. However, when he tried to return it back to the river like Yue did, it plopped back in with an unsightly splash.

"That's okay, you did not fail," Yue told him. "All it takes is practice, but you have it. Now, I must send you back to your friends. I have kept you long enough."

And suddenly the ground didn't hold him any more. He fell through it like it was just an illusion into blackness. A force jerked him and he opened his eyes.

They gasped.

"What?" he queried.

"Kaiba… your eyes…"

He noticed his clothes had changed. His head ached, but it was not so painful as it was before. He pushed them away, got up, and went to the pond. His reflection stared back at him. His eyes seemed… different. Almost crystalline. While their brilliant deep blue color had not faded, there appeared to be a gem-like quality to them instead of the cold, flat blue. It was like those enhanced photos where the blue eyes really seemed to refract the light, inhuman and beautiful. He frowned and pushed back his bangs. A blue tattoo was on his forehead.

Well _that_ was just perfect. At least his bangs hid it well.

"Kaiba, are you okay?"

"What happened, Nii-sama?"

Kaiba turned back towards them and felt power surge up inside of him. All at once, pride bubbled up, and he said with smugness, "The moon taught me how to bend the water."

* * *

**I don't think it's possible for you to enjoy reading this chapter more than I enjoyed writing it, but I hoped you liked it anyway! It wasn't confusing, was it? It better not be. Anyway, please review!**


	6. Earth

**Yeah, I know, I updated this really quick. Well, I felt I kinda owe you guys. I was pretty much MIA for a few weeks. And besides, I was really feelin' it.**

**Wow, someone's already reviewed the previous chapter. Well, I'll respond to it here. He had said that he hoped there would be some gaming in there. Well, I'm not planning it any time soon -- after all, this story is more about the Avatar side of things -- but there's room to squeeze it in. In the distant future. *cackles evilly* No really. Duel Monsters MIGHT appear in here, but at least not in the next... um... three or four chapters. Probably more. Just sayin'.

* * *

  
**

Valon laughed. He couldn't help it. Kaiba just sounded so damn ridiculous. "The moon taught me how to bend the water," he had said. As he laughed, the CEO's face fell as the out-of-place pride crumbled away.

"That's nice, Kaiba," Valon crooned as if the formidable man in front of him was a toddler. Kaiba's brow furrowed in anger.

"Now is not the time to fight!" Yugi said firmly. "School starts in half an hour. We need to go."

"But wait," Rebecca interrupted. "Valon and I don't go to your school. What are we supposed to do for seven, eight hours?"

Mokuba grinned mischievously. "We can pull some strings for you."

Kaiba smirked and headed inside. "One simple phone call from the richest man in Domino should be enough for the school to accept two sudden transfer students."

Valon avoided Kaiba's weird eyes as he passed. It looked like he was wearing diamond contacts, or something. It just… looked wrong in face–to Valon at least. Everyone followed the CEO inside, and fifteen minutes later, they were in a limousine en route to Domino High. It was only when they had reached the school, with all the students as possible eavesdroppers, that they realized they had forgotten to ask Kaiba what had happened while he was unconscious.

* * *

Valon was amazed when he saw the school building, to say the least. He had gotten the impression that it was just a three story rectangular prism, but that was not the case. There was a courtyard, and the entire school wrapped around it in a square shape. In the courtyard, it was largely made up of a green grass lawn, with a wide cement sidewalk running through it. Off in one corner, there was a pond dyed the most ridiculous color of blue, complete with a flowerbed and a small waterfall tumbling over flat stones. On the sidewalk, five tables rested. Two or three trees were placed erratically around the area, with a stone bench or two underneath them.

The rest of the school was built simply. The cafeteria opened up to the courtyard so that students could eat lunch there. It was indeed three stories, but only on the side of the school facing the street. The other three sides were two stories. It must have gotten construction recently.

Yugi was kind enough to lead Valon and Rebecca to the Dean's Office, where they received their schedules. Rebecca proclaimed that she found the Japanese school system an oddity. Indeed, she was used to the students moving around, not the teachers. She and Valon were put in the same class as Yugi and the others, including Kaiba.

Class started soon. Valon and Rebecca were introduced to the class. Valon quickly found that he did not like being cooped up in a classroom. He didn't exactly know why. He never had that problem before. A few swift glances around the room told him neither did Rebecca, Kaiba, or Anzu. He tried to shrug it off with the excuse that it was the effect of the stones, but the restlessness wouldn't go away.

Finally, the lunch bell rang. This was the only time the students changed rooms. The crowd spilled towards the cafeteria, and Valon jogged to keep up with Jounouchi. He scored a spot at a table outside and Yugi and his friends joined him. Kaiba, of course, went off on his own and sat at the bench in front of the pond under the shade, even though today was rather brisk. No one dared sit near him.

"Does 'e always sit there alone?" Valon asked to strike up a conversation, even though he could guess the answer pretty accurately.

"Yeah," Anzu said, almost in scorn. "He always takes out his laptop, too. I bet he checks up on the stocks of his company. As if they'll change that drastically during school."

Valon had to glance over his shoulder to look at Kaiba. He did not see a laptop. Indeed, Kaiba seemed deep in thought as he stared at the ridiculously blue water. A duck with her ducklings were hanging out on the opposite side, in the flowerbed and on the rocks. A baby or two were swimming in the water, kicking their little webbed feet quickly.

Valon stood up. His muscles were itching to move. "I gotta go buy my lunch," he said, and dodged back inside. He actually wasn't very hungry. He had decided he was going to skip lunch. No, he just wanted an excuse to walk around. He bought a bag of chips for later, though. He walked back outside and tossed the bag of chips on the table. "I'm not that hungry," he stated in reply to Yugi and his friends' incredulous looks.

He started walking on the grass when suddenly, a cherubic humming buzzed in his ears. Dizziness hit him like a brick. His vision speckled black and gray, and before he knew it, he was on the ground being helped up by Jou. So he had fainted. He glanced at Kaiba, who was gazing at him with curiosity. The CEO had fainted earlier this day.

He allowed himself to be helped up before he took out his stone.

"You okay, dude?" Jou asked.

"Just fine," Valon assured him. He cupped the rock in his hand like he had seen Kaiba do. The ground vibrated, but somehow he knew the others couldn't feel it. Indeed, they were the ones causing it. He could help but grin when the ground began to shake visibly and violently. The students who had gathered around him fell to their butts. The mark on the stone lit up in emerald green, like a light was shining from deep inside. Rebecca guessed what was happening.

"Valon, no!" she cried helplessly. "Now isn't the time to do that! There's too many people!"

Valon, of course, ignored her.

The grass beneath his feet glowed bright emerald green. It reached out to form a broad ten-foot diameter around him. Little pebbles rose from the earth and floated around him, and it looked like a slight breeze was lifting his hair and new school uniform. He released his hands from the cup formation, and the stone hovered in its place. He allowed his arms to drift out to the side like a crucifix. His head snapped back as Kaiba's had done as the stone burst into a million green glowing pieces as fine as powder and shot at his forehead. He knew what was going to happen, and was not afraid. The glow enveloped him to such and extent that he appeared to be nothing more than a blob of glowing emerald.

A force knocked everyone away as the green glow faded and he was set back on the grass gently. His clothes, too, had changed, and were the same as Kaiba's. A black skin-tight boy's tank top, silver belt, black pants, and black shoes. The only difference was that the small black belt was on his right wrist instead of the left, and the etching on his belt mimicked his stone's.

"What's wrong with him!?" one student cried.

"Where did he get those clothes?" another one shouted.

"Nothing happened!" Rebecca snapped at them, quickly getting to her feet. "What you are seeing is an illusion. You are all hallucinating. There's something funky in the air. Right, Kaiba?"

It seemed right she turned to Kaiba at that point. He was the one who was claiming it was all either a dream or a hallucination. He had sauntered over after Valon had been set back on the grass. "Rebecca is right," he said simply. "The air will be cleaned up tomorrow. There is something strange in the school's sewer system, but they're fixing it right up."

Anyone could be amazed at how fluidly and cleanly Kaiba told a lie like that. But no one was amazed, because they were all too ready to believe him.

* * *

"Welcome, Valon."

Valon turned. He hadn't expected this. He was standing in a large forest with tall, old trees as thick as a minivan. It all had a strange, bronze coloring, like sepia, maybe. The river that wound through the trees, even, was dull and pale. The only thing with color was the dirt, glinting a brilliant umber between the leaves. He stood on one side of the river, and the spirit Kyoshi stood on the opposite side.

"Where is this place? I didn't know this was gonna happen."

"You have synced with your stone," Kyoshi told him. "You have become one with the power I have given you."

"What does that mean?"

"You have the ability to bend Earth. I have summoned you here in order to teach you some basic moves to help you on your journey to master the Earth."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'll show you," Avatar Kyoshi said. "Look at your feet." Valon glanced down. There was a spherical rock about the size of an inflatable beach ball he hadn't noticed before. There was one in front of Kyoshi too. "Watch, listen, and learn." Kyoshi took a very firm stance, her left foot in front of the right. One arm was folding against her torso, as if it was spring loaded. She thrust her other arm out, her hand in a fist. She raised it, and the rock rose also. In one fluid movement, she simultaneously slid her right foot in front, punched her folded arm, and withdrew the outstretched one. The rock shot like a canon across the river and rushed harmlessly past Valon. "Now you try."

"Um… okay…" Valon muttered, not quite sure what to do. He took the same stance as Kyoshi, and mimicked her movements. When he took the stance, he felt firm like an immovable boulder. He was immensely surprised to see the rock move with his will.

"Good, good," Kyoshi praised. "An Earthbender must be a solid soul. Earthbending is all about becoming the rock. Do you understand?" Valon understood perfectly. He told her so, and she nodded, saying, "It is hard to be an Earthbender and not 'become the rock.' Now, I want you to try this one more move. You have given a rock movement. Now you must take it away." She took a different firm stance now, spreading her feet apart. She lowered her center of gravity and held her hands out in front like some sort of shield. "Take this stance." Valon did. "Now, I am going to bend a small boulder in your direction. I want you to thrust it back at me. Like so." She thrust both arms out at the same time, her hands curled into tight fists once more. "Ready?"

"Might as well be," Valon said, hoping he wouldn't be knocked over. Kyoshi bent the boulder he had shot at her and held it in front of her. She punched it towards him, and he took a deep breath. When it was almost too him, he thrust out his arms like he had seen her do. It ricocheted away, a little unsteady but in the direction of Kyoshi. She simply had to lean out of the way to avoid it.

"Good. If you practice you will get it perfectly. Now, I have kept you long enough. I must send you back to your friends."

Suddenly, the ground didn't hold him up anymore. Valon fell through it as though it didn't exist into a swirling blackness. He opened his eyes and was confused as he observed the dark roof of a car.

"He's awake!" he heard Anzu exclaim.

"His eyes changed too," Rebecca observed.

Jounouchi helped Valon sit up. They were in Kaiba's limo. They explained to him that they got out of school early to "take him to the hospital," even though that was a lie. They were heading back to the Kame Game shop. He looked into a compact mirror Anzu had on her. His gray eyes had taken on a steely sheen, becoming almost silver in appearance. "Weird," he commented. Out of curiosity, he lifted his bangs. Yup. There was the emerald green tattoo on his forehead, the same image that had been on his stone.

"Do you feel okay?" Jou asked him.

"Fine, fine," Valon dismissed, handing the mirror back to Anzu. He grinned. "I do know one thing. I synced with the stone, and a dead person taught me how to bend the Earth."

* * *

**Just have to say this one thing: Please review! But I guess you knew that already. Cheers!  
**


	7. Fire

**Anyone else obsessed with the television series "Bones"? I am. I plan to make a fanfic on that. Someday. Hopefully...**

…**By the way, if you see me using improper English, it's probably between quotation marks. Thus, I meant to do it. Cheers!

* * *

**

Anzu thought she heard Kaiba mutter, "That's not as cool as the moon teaching," but when she glanced over, his gaze hadn't moved from the window of the limo.

They soon arrived at the Kame Game shop, aka Yugi's house. It was maybe 1:30 PM, but it was dark like dusk. The sky had been overcast the entire week. It was bound to let down buckets of rain soon.

The problem with ditching school so early is that one didn't have a sufficient reason to leave. Anzu's dance class didn't start until 3:30, and she knew Kaiba couldn't escape with Mokuba as an excuse. Thus, they were stuck with a tense atmosphere, sitting in Yugi's living room. Finally, Rebecca broke the silence.

"How are Anzu and I gonna 'sync' with our stones?"

Yugi was the first to reply. "To be honest, I have no idea. Both Kaiba and Valon did it by coming into direct contact with their element. Kaiba fell into the pond, and Valon walked onto the grass."

"But I can't _not_ come in contact with air," Rebecca huffed. "Why hasn't it happened to _me_?"

Anzu's blood ran cold. "But how do I come in contact with _fire_? What do you want me to do, jump into a bonfire?" She tried to ignore the strange glint that flashed in Kaiba's eyes.

"There's many things we don't know yet," Yugi reminded the two girls.

"Eh, maybe there's an order to this," Jou suggested. Even though it was a good idea, he still managed to make it sound dumb.

"The seasons," Kaiba said, as if it was obvious. Anzu seethed a little. He probably had a lot of good guesses he wasn't sharing. "Winter, spring, summer, fall. First water, second earth, third fire, fourth air."

"What else are you hidin'!?" Jou snarled at him_. So I'm not the only one who thought Kaiba wasn't contributing as much as he could,_ thought Anzu.

Kaiba smirked. "If I was hiding anything, I wouldn't tell you anyway."

Anzu glared at the CEO. "If you don't want to help, and you don't want to be here, then just… leave!"

He rolled his eyes. "Please. If I left, your poor intellectual skills wouldn't get you anywhere."

Jou told him to do something that wasn't necessarily anatomically possible, and that Anzu wouldn't dare repeat.

"Language, Jounouchi!" scolded Yugi.

Kaiba simply laughed. "You should be a bit more clever with your insults, mutt."

Jou bared his teeth. Anzu didn't want to know what was going to happen next. She stood up quickly. Even though it was only 2:00, she said, "Well, I'm going to go get ready for my dance class." She almost ran out of that room, she was so desperate to leave. However, once outside, she didn't immediately return home. She stood on the sidewalk in front of the little shop and sighed.

In truth, she was afraid of what might happen when she "synced" with her stone. After all, fire only destroyed things. Flames can only burn down stuff like houses… She took another deep breath. She didn't want to control fire. She'd much rather "trade" with Kaiba. _There must've been a mistake_, she thought. _Maybe they mixed up Kaiba and me and gave me the wrong power._

She was about to turn and leave when she heard the door open behind her. She looked over her shoulder and lo and behold, it was the devil himself.

Anzu watched Kaiba as he walked up next to her – though still a few paces away. He looked up slightly, as if studying the clouds on the horizon.

"What're you…" she started.

"Yugi kicked me out," he said, cutting her off. He gave a slight chuckle.

Anzu suddenly thought of that room she had seen through the window in his mansion when she and the others had been chauffeured to it after… she didn't want to say it even now. But she remembered clearly that the walls had been scorched black with ashes and soot. And since no one was around, she decided to venture with a question.

"Um… Kaiba, what happened in that room in your house that looked like a fire had broken out in?"

She watched his face carefully. His eyes hardened like ice, and his face tightened.

"What happened in that room is none of your business."

"Right, sorry, sorry," she mumbled, stumbling over her words. She turned quickly away. "I'll just be going now."

"I think that's the smartest thing you've said all day, Mazaki."

* * *

Anzu's dance class took place in an old building two stories high and painted a graying white. All dance classes were held on the second floor. It had a piano in the corner, an unlit fireplace with logs resting in a pile in it, mirrors along the longest wall, and a closet opposite which held the stereo that played music for the dancers. The floor was wood paneling, and the walls were simple drywall. Almost everything else was made of wood.

You might think right now, "Why is she there? It's flammable! And she's next to sync! Is she an idiot?" I must tell you that Anzu is not an idiot. Not even a candle has been lit in this building for over ten years. Frankly, it was highly unlikely that a fire would start there.

Her instructor and other three dance peers arrived soon. After dancing for a while, Anzu suddenly slipped near the fireplace. Her stone bounced out of her pocket and between the logs. Something sparked, and a flame roared to life. The other students screamed. As the fire licked at its boundaries, growing ever bigger, the wall caught flame. The instructor quickly led her students out, but Anzu was on the floor in shock.

The fire crawled to the beams on the ceiling, causing one to crack and collapse, preventing the teacher from getting to Anzu. Anzu stood up, her heart beating painfully and fearfully in her chest. This was just like her dream. Except this was real life. She could die!

She noticed something gray rise in front of her and hover at shoulder height. It was the stone. The engraving was glowing magnificent ruby. Almost instinctively, she lifted her arms to cup her hands underneath it. A hot, dry air seemed to explode from her, pushing fire away in a circle around her. The flames in turn spun up around her like a rising cyclone. Her arms whipped out to the side as if she was on a crucifix, and the stone burst into no less than a million tiny shining pieces. They rushed at her forehead, and her head jerked back. Just like Kaiba and Valon, the glow enveloped her. This time, however, when it faded from her being, the fire faded with it. She was set down outside through a hole in the roof.

The fire had remarkably been contained. Only the dance room had been damaged at all, though it was burned beyond easy repair. Almost all of the beams holding the ceiling up had collapsed. The walls were singed and sooty. The whole floor was black and burnt, except for an odd circle of space. That space was completely untouched by the flame.

Anzu's clothes had changed. Now she was wearing a black tank top, a white pleated skirt, short black leggings, black flats, and a thin black belt on her left wrist.

"Thank God she got out alive!" one person cried.

"But what had happened?

* * *

"

"Welcome, Anzu."

Anzu turned. Where was she? A forest? It looked devoid of any real color. All muted and sepia. Except that there appeared to be a sun above, streaming through the tree branches. And wherever the beams touched, the object's true color showed through.

Across the river stood Avatar Roku, proud in his red robes with his arms folded into his sleeves.

"Where is this place?" Anzu asked him. "Where am I?"

"You have synced with the stone," Roku told her. "I have summoned you to this part of the Spirit World to teach you some moves to help you on your journey to master the fire."

Anzu's blood froze. "B-but, Avatar Roku, I-I don't want to… to learn Firebending…"

Roku did not get angry with her. Indeed, he looked upon her with sympathy. "I know what you are feeling. You think fire only destroys. While it does destroy, it does also provide life. Does the sun not give energy and light?"

"Y-yes."

"So you see, to be a true Firebender, you must understand both sides of the flame. One side is angry and devours everything in its path. The other is like a heartbeat, giving light, energy, and warmth. Do you understand?"

Anzu was slowly warming up to the idea of Firebending. Maybe there hadn't been a mix-up after all… "Yes," she said. "Perfectly."

Roku smiled at her. "Good. Now, the first move I shall teach you is the simplest of the simple. Firebending is a fighting style that uses strong punches and kicks. While it can be used in other ways, while you start, it is easier to learn a structured thing."

"I understand."

"Now, this move is simply a punch, to shoot a jet of flame from your fist. Watch, listen, and learn." He took a deep breath and held it as he moved into a rather low stance, his left foot far in front of the right. His left arm was outstretched slightly, but relaxed. As he released his breath, he shifted his weight while at the same time, he withdrew his left arm and punched his right one out. A jet of red fire shot forward, and as long as he held that stance and steadied his breath, it stayed. He ended soon enough and stood up straight again. "You try."

Anzu mimicked him. She took a deep breath, released it, took another and held it, then copied his movements. She felt a surge of warmth rise from her gut and flow into her fist to create fire.

"Wow," she breathed when she returned to a neutral position.

"You may have noticed that your breathing helped with your bending. Indeed, the strength of the fire is dependent on your breath. And also, the fire's energy center resides in the gut, you may have observed. It is different for every element. Water's energy center is in the heart and hands. Earth is in the head and legs. Air is in the lungs and feet. And yes, fire is in the gut and mouth."**(1)**

Anzu raised an eyebrow at him. "That sounds like utter nonsense."

Roku smiled warmly at her. "Only if you're not the Avatar. It takes a little bit of thinking." He paused. "Oh… I was going to teach you one more move, but I am out of time. It's not hard to figure out; I know you can do it. But I must send you back to your friends. I send you with more knowledge that the others received. And remember. Fire is a dangerous thing to handle, but I know you have the strength to play with fire and not get burned. Just remember this: If you ever lose your breath, do not attempt to Firebend, or it will end in disaster."

Anzu wanted to ask more questions, but suddenly she fell through the ground like it didn't exist at all. The blackness swallowed her up until she opened her eyes. The gray clouds bubbled above her, and a drizzle started to sprinkle. She closed her eyes again and fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

**Yeah, cutting it there so that I can get to the Air part. And besides, you've waited long enough ;).**

**(1) Yes, I really did just make that up, except for the "fire in the gut" part. That part, I kind of got from the Avatar show. Indirectly, though. It was mentioned when Zuko was learning how to redirect lightning from his Uncle Iroh. However, I didn't just randomly choose body parts for them. Water is like… the healing one. You know how Katara can heal with Waterbending. And when I think of medicine, I think of the heart. And I think waterbending uses the hands the most… Earth is the strong one, so of course they're stubborn. Thus, the head. And they represent raw power. Thus, the legs. Air is flighty, so I chose feet ("twinkletoes!"), and I chose lungs because hey, they breathe in **_**air**_**! And fire draws power from the gut, and breath, but since lungs were taken, mouth is the next choice. **


	8. Air

**Time for Air! I know you've been guessing how Rebecca's gonna sync! I assure you it won't be boring! (Or at least, I'll try not to make it so). Cheers!

* * *

**

It was an hour before Rebecca and the others found Anzu again. They shook her awake. For once, she was glad she hasn't cut her bangs in a while. They covered the ruby red mark on her forehead. But her eyes also had a strange spark. But it didn't look too strange. She usually had a spark of determination in them anyway.

Rebecca clapped her hands together once, as if to get attention. "Well," she said. "Me next." She paused as they stared at her blankly. "And nothing's happening. What am I supposed to do? Wait for the next tornado and jump on in?"

"And ideas, Kaiba?" Jou spat.

The CEO shrugged, but he didn't speak.

"Well, the day is winding down," Valon said. "Our, ah, 'guests' are arriving tomorrow somehow. We need to figure something out for Rebecca."

Kaiba stood tall and proud. "Well," he said, "either way, I'm going to the Kaiba Corp. building to make sure my employees haven't screwed everything up. Again." He started to stalk off through the trees.

"Should we follow him?" Anzu asked.

"Nah," Rebecca said. "He's no big help anyway."

* * *

They ended up wandering to the Kaiba Corp. building anyway. They had no place else to go. It was dark when they got there.

"You know," Honda said, "you never really get to appreciate how tall this building really is."

"It's the tallest in the city," Rebecca said matter-of-factly. "You would know if you were a real duelist."

Honda would've glared at her, but he didn't dare.

They entered a lobby with floors so slick, all sneakers squeaked and all shoes with the slightest heel clicked. It was deliciously furnished with fake ficus bushes, a few black leather couches, and a couple Impressionist-style paintings on the wall. The receptionist was a pretty brunette with thick-rimmed black glasses, a watch-ring on her right middle finger, a tight black knee-length skirt, and a nice blouse with a vest. Her desk was shiny and round, curving around her with the Kaiba Corp. insignia emblazoned in gold block letters on the front. The receptionist looked up when they came in. Sweet brown eyes peered from behind the glasses. Her nametag read "SAKURA."

"May I help you?" she asked, almost condescendingly. Rebecca sniffed at her tone. This person thought she was so high and mighty because she worked for Kaiba. Ha!

"We'd like to see Kaiba," Yugi said. "We're his… friends."

Sakura looked at them disbelievingly. "Uh huh. Well, I'll phone him. Mind you, he's in a bad mood today."

"No kidding," Jou muttered. Anzu elbowed him in the gut.

Yugi smiled cherubically at her. "Honestly, he's always in a bad mood. May we see him please?"

Sakura seemed to soften at this small, innocent-looking boy. "One second." She pressed a button on her desk phone. "Mr. Kaiba, your friends are here."

They could almost imagine him rolling his eyes. "Are you serious, Sakura?"

"Yes, sir."

Eye roll. "Tell them to go away."

Sakura glanced up at them. She winked at Yugi. "I'll be right back. You wait here, 'kay?" She got up and walked to an elevator, her hips swaying in time with her steps as her tall black stilettos clacked against the floor.

"Man, Yugi, you just get all the chicks, don'tcha!?" Jou joked, hooking an arm playfully around Yugi's neck and giving him a noogie. Yugi was pink, Anzu was red, and Rebecca was an interesting shade of beet because of a combination of held-back laughter and anger.

Valon watched Sakura go. "I dunno," he said, almost shyly. "I get a weird feeling from her. Something's not right. Don't you guys feel it?"

"If I do, it's because of my anger," Anzu hissed.

Rebecca couldn't hold it any longer. She started laughing hysterically. But Valon stopped her almost right away.

"Shh. Didn't you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Yugi asked him.

"I thought I heard a girl scream."

"That's ridiculous," Honda said. "I've been as attentive as you. I didn't hear anything."

"Kaiba's office!" Valon suddenly cried. He dashed for the elevator.

"Valon, wait!" the rest of them shouted, chasing after him. He jabbed the button furiously until the elevator door dinged and slid open. He paused at the buttons inside, though.

Yugi leaned over and pressed the second to highest button. The highest opened to the red dome on top, the duel field. "He likes the view," he said. "Or at least, that's what I think."

"Or he just wants to be as far away from commoners as possible," Jou grumbled.

"Your ability to go from hateful, to teasing, to hateful again amazes me," Rebecca growled at him. "Shut up if you've got nothing helpful to say."

Jou glared at her, but Rebecca hadn't even looked at him when she insulted him. The glare was useless. Rebecca instead was staring at the rising numbers as they ascended floors. Valon shifted weight from foot to foot, obviously very restless. Finally, after eons, the elevator doors opened again, and Valon rushed out. Rebecca made sure to be hot on his heels. They rushed past doors with plaques on them bearing names with important-sounding titles. Finally, they reached "SETO KAIBA, CEO." Valon threw the door open, letting it bang against the wall in protest.

Valon almost stopped. Indeed, he shuddered as if in temptation to, but he stepped further into the room so that the others could enter as well. Rebecca gasped.

Seto Kaiba was bent over the form of Sakura, who was unconscious, or maybe dead. Hopefully, it was the prior. But he was bent in a way that they could only really see the top of his head clearly. He slowly stood up from his crouch, still weirdly hunched over so that his face was obscured from sight.

"Kaiba…?" Yugi tentatively asked. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, Kaiba's not here right now." It was a raspy voice. It was coming from Kaiba's mouth, but…

The CEO jerked his head up, and they all took a collective gasp of shock. He was grinning evilly, like he does when he cooks up a masterful plan to get his title of King of Games back. But his eyes… dear Lord, his eyes! They were black. All black. No pupil, no iris, no whites. They were as black as space, without the stars. Like a black hole. Anzu actually shrieked and stepped back.

"What happened!?" Rebecca cried. Then she took on a more fierce tone. "Who are you? What have you done to Kaiba?"

Kaiba continued to grin at them. It wasn't really Kaiba, they could all see that. His mouth opened, and the raspy voice crawled out of it. "Who am I? Why, I'm a demon, of course. Isn't it obvious? Anyway, I'll give you a little debriefing. I'm a Possessing Demon."

"Obviously," Rebecca spat. "Stop possessing Kaiba, then!"

"But why would I do that?" the demon make Kaiba smirk, twisting his mouth into the cruel smile. "Your friend Kaiba is one of the ones we're after, or did you forget? Of course I'm not going to relinquish my control over him. And you, my little sweet, are my next target. You haven't synced yet, I can tell. You'll be the easiest to kill."

Rebecca only had time to gulp before he was upon her. Using Kaiba's own strength and physical abilities, there was no trouble grabbing her by the throat, shifting her so that he could hold her with one arm against his body, kicking the advancing Joey in the ribcage and punching the quick-reacting Honda right in the nose. No one could stop him, not even Valon or Anzu who now had their Bending, from spinning with the momentum he gave behind his punch, jumped over the desk, and using his leg to slide the rolling chair forcefully into the window. The glass had no chance. The chair went right through it.

"This kid is amazing!" the demon laughed. "I haven't possessed someone this awesome in a whole two centuries! Can you believe it? Nothing good since the eighteen hundreds." Still laughing, still holding Rebecca by the throat, he stretched out his arm so that she was dangling over the racing cars below. People were looking up and shrieking worriedly.

Rebecca wasn't quite sure what happened next. No one was. As she was looking into Kaiba's – no, the demon's eyes, he dropped her. In less than a second, however, she watched the hard cruel expression on Kaiba's face changed to a softer, guilty horror. His eyes even flickered back to normal (or whatever normal was for him, now), the black shrinking to form his pupils. As she fell, he dropped like a stone to reach out and try to grab her again. Now that she thought back on it, Kaiba was very, very lucky he didn't get impaled by any shards of glass.

Rebecca didn't know what she was thinking. Actually, she was pretty sure she wasn't thinking at all. All she know that as she fell, with the wind rushing against her, her stone slipped out of the pouch around her waist. It seemed to her that it rose up, and she snatched it. It heated against her palm as she opened it again. The wind almost seemed to stop, but that actually was because it was now forming a protecting bubble around her. It carried her to the ground as her stone glowed a bright topaz from deep inside, and burst, rushing at her forehead and enveloping her in the yellowish-orange light.

Her clothing had changed to match Anzu's, but the belt was on her right wrist. She didn't know what happened next in Japan, because she was now unconscious.

* * *

"Welcome, Rebecca."

Rebecca turned. Was she in a forest? It was a strangely colored forest. Almost all of it was a sort of sepia color, like an old photograph. Except for the leaves. The leaves shone brown, red, and gold, with a few green stragglers. A discolored river wound through the thick trees. Across this river, Gyatso stood, with his orange robes, bald head, and white handlebar mustache.

"Where is this place, old man?" she demanded. "No one told me about this."

"Shh," Gyatso shushed, but it wasn't mean. "I'm here to teach you some basic Airbending moves so that you may continue your training on your own, and master the air."

Rebecca crossed her arms. "Alright. Then teach me."

"We must proceed quickly," Gyatso said. "I must teach you three moves in the space it takes for you to learn two. Are you ready?"

Rebecca grinned. "I'm a fast learner, and I'm always up for a challenge. Teach away, old man."

Gyatso nodded, unoffended by her nickname. He took what appeared to be a fighting stance. "This first move is simply creating a breeze. Once you can push the breeze in front of you, it will be easier to figure out how to manipulate the wind so that you may run faster, jump higher and farther or fly if you have a glider, and even blow your enemies down with your breath. Do you understand."

"Assume I understand unless I ask a question," Rebecca told him impatiently. She didn't bother ask what a glider was. She figured she'd find out soon enough.

Gyatso nodded. "Airbending is about quick jabs aiming at disarming your opponent and using swift changes in direction to knock him down."

So it was like Baguazhang, Rebecca thought. Baguazhang was a fighting style that uses circular movements and quick directional changes to create angles between the combatants. It also uses centripetal force to generate power. She nodded at him, and the monk continued.

"Now, watch, listen, and learn." One foot in front of the other, Gyatso withdrew both hands to one side as if he was drawing a two-handed sword from his hip. As he thrust them out again, he twisted his wrists slightly in a circular formation. Rebecca was almost blasted off her feet with the wind. "Now you try."

Rebecca was disbelieving as she mimicked his stance. Nevertheless, as she copied his movement, she imagined she was Boreas, the north wind. A surge of energy whipped through her, and she felt like she could fly for a minute. When she realized what had happened, which was after she stopped, Gyatso was on the ground.

He laughed. "Amazing!" he said. "That was a powerful wind." His robes billowed out slightly as he used the air to help himself up. "The next move is creating a sphere, or rather, a bubble of air between your hands. With this bubble of air, you can do whatever you want. You can ride it, you can throw it at people, or you could use it as a makeshift scuba helmet underwater. Now watch." Rebecca was now eager rather than disbelieving as she watched Gyatso perform his next move. It looked simple enough.

He started with his hands lying palm to palm on top of each other in front of his chest, his elbows out to the side. It was a fast movement. He snapped his hands apart, and slowing down only slightly, he rotated his now-straight arms out and around so that the hand that had been on top was now holding a sphere of moving air from below. "You try. Remember, this only lasts for so long."

Rebecca nodded again, and mimicked the monk. The ball of air floated between her two hands, and she felt the surge of energy again. It was amazing, like the feeling you get when you ride a rollercoaster.

"I think you understand well," Gyatso said approvingly. She dispelled the sphere of air. "This next move is the last, and we must be swift. Our time is almost out. This move is about creating a cyclone. You can use a cyclone to suck things up or throw things, or make little tornados – whatever you want to do." He started this move by rotating his wrist in a circle and moving his fingers in time. He drew his hand back quickly, and then rapidly moved both hands together to rotate around each other. Rebecca saw a cyclone, forming something like a tube that went under his arm.

Rebecca mimicked him, happy when she had her own "tube."

"You are an amazing pupil," Gyatso complimented. "You are indeed a smart and fast learner. Now, it is time for you to go. Use your new knowledge to help your friend Seto."

"He's not my…"

"Before I forget. The portal will be opened tomorrow when all four elements are in one spot. Goodbye, Rebecca."

And she fell through the ground like it was an illusion into darkness.

* * *

Rebecca's eyes snapped open, and she leaped up. She looked back up to the broken window. Red and blue lights were flashing around her. At least there weren't TV crews, she thought.

The people around her were thoroughly surprised. Well, she did, after all, fall from the top of the tallest building in Domino, and she ended up perfectly fine. No scratches or anything.

Rebecca couldn't see what was happening but there was movement. She had to get up there. Fast. The elevator wouldn't be fast enough. Maybe she could run up the side…

She grinned. "Rebecca Hawkins," she told herself, "you are so clever." She dashed towards the building. As she jumped and dug into it with the toe of her shoe, she thrust her arms behind her. If this failed, she was for sure dead. The pedestrians below her were suddenly blasted with a strong wind as Rebecca continued to run up the side of the building. The glass was tricky and slippery, but the air kept her safe. She reached the window in no time, out of breath, and leaped inside.

Kaiba's back was to her, but he looked over his shoulder when she came back in. The others were still at the door, but Jou and Honda were unconscious at the wall. Kaiba's eyes were all black once more. The demon regained control over the CEO's body. He growled.

"So your still alive," the demon rasped. Then he noticed her clothes, and her eyes, and his own black ones widened. He had turned to face her by this time. "No. You… you…"

"That's right," Rebecca said threateningly. "You relinquish Kaiba, or else."

The demon started to laugh triumphantly. "Or else what!? You wouldn't harm me! If you try, you'll harm my host!"

Rebecca narrowed her eyes. "Fine then." She thought back to Gyatso's first move. She withdrew her hands, and then thrust them forward. Kaiba – the demon, I mean – braced himself as a strong wind buffeted him. He was lifted off his feet and chucked backwards. Anzu, Valon and Yugi had to dive out of the way as Kaiba's body slammed against the wall of the hallway. He sunk to the ground, his black eyes actually wide with fear.

Rebecca marched up to him. "No, please!" he said, his gruff voice quivering. "D-don't! I'm just a Level 1!"

"Leave," she growled. "I don't want to see you again. If I do, I won't be so kind."

The demon nodded frantically. Suddenly, his eyes closed, and Kaiba's body fell limp, sliding to the floor. A shadow rose up behind him, briefly showing the form of a demon – it looked like a small imp with pointy ears, nose, and everything else – before the shape dissolved.

Kaiba's eyelids fluttered, and Rebecca sighed with relief when they opened to reveal his sapphire blue irises. "Wh–" he said breathily. "What the hell happened…?"

The others came up behind her. Jou and Honda had awoken, suffering only minor injuries, though Honda was nursing a bleeding nose.

"You were possessed," Rebecca said matter-of-factly. Kaiba looked like he was going to reply, but she talked over him. "I saved you, you know, after you threw me out the window. You can thank me later. What I want to know is what happened right before."

Kaiba winced as he shifted to a sitting position. "Damn, what did you do to me? My spine could be bruised, you know." As he looked past her and saw the scene in his office, his eyes suddenly when blank as a flashback rang through his head. "Sakura," he whispered. His receptionist was still on the floor, unconscious. "She was the one who…" Suddenly, he stopped and glared at Rebecca once more.

Rebecca knew what he was going to say. "So Sakura was harboring the demon who possessed you. By the way, you might need to get a new rolling chair." And she marched back down the hall. Kaiba watched her for a few seconds before staring back into the room, ignoring Yugi and the others. The room was a mess. The window had been broken crudely, and the desk was tipped over, papers scattered everywhere. So maybe he _had_ been possessed. Because he sure didn't remember doing that…

* * *

Rebecca stopped at the restroom on the bottom floor to look in the mirror. Her pigtails had fallen out, and her long blond hair was a complete mess. But her bangs still covered the topaz mark on her forehead. Her azure eyes had paled to match the noon sky and held deepness only said sky had. She grinned to her reflection.

"Beat that, you guys," she said softly. "I was the first to use bending outside of our heads, and it was to save a person's life." Before walking away, she whispered, "Ha."

* * *

**Please review, of course! Hope you found this exciting. **


	9. Mist

**Hi, sorry to make you wait. Here it is, the ninth chapter of "WEFA". Remember where we left off? Rebecca had just synced and defeated the demon possessing Kaiba. Now, to see the results of this...

* * *

**Kaiba scowled as he walked out the Kaiba Corp. Building, Yugi and his friends flanking him. He was carrying Sakura, but he quickly passed her off to a paramedic. They wanted to look at him too, but he snapped, "I'm fine!" and they backed off, instead going to Jou and Honda.

A reporter annoyingly came up to him. "Sir, Mr. Kaiba, sir!" she said, the camera man hanging over her shoulder. "Can you tell us what happened on your top floor?"

Kaiba rounded on her, eyes blazing and fists clenching in anger. "You will leave this alone," he growled. "Nothing of any importance happened up there. You can't trust witnesses' eyes, you know."

The reporter nodded eagerly. "But what was the reason behind the window breaking?"

Kaiba quickly thought of an answer and smirked. "If you continue to ask and anger me, you might see first-hand." That thankfully made her back off, except she just turned to the cameraman and said her spiel into the lens. Great, this was going all over the news. Just what he needed.

_Stupid demons_, he growled in his head. _Stupid Bending. Stupid mentors. Stupid Rebecca! Stupid everything-that's-going-wrong-right-now-as-a-cause-of-Bending._ He continued the rant silently as he dodged more reporters and paramedics. Right now, he just wanted to go home.

Strangely enough, his fingers itched to do something. He didn't know what. Not writing, not typing, not sketching…

He had to cut through the park to avoid a crowd. Stupid reporters. They were going to try and corner him at his mansion, he knew it. He wasn't too worried – Mokuba knew not to open the door for them or talk to them – but it meant he was going to have to wait until they got bored of waiting for him to arrive.

He walked along the packed dirt road until he got to the center of the park. It was a nice clearing, with stone benches around the perimeter and a fountain in the middle. The fountain was still activated. It was a large fountain with a centerpiece spewing up water that crashed down into the basin below. Streetlamps lit the water magnificently. The city workers had already come by for the day and swept up the coins people had thrown in there, but a few from late-nighters glinted as ripples skirted across the surface. This part of the park, at least, was deserted except for him, thank god.

When they had taken the elevator down, Rebecca had been waiting for them. She had forgotten to repeat the message Gyatso had given her, about the four elements coming together. And then she had marched out the door, leaving them promptly. Kaiba pondered this. What could it mean? Water, Earth, Fire and Air had to be in the same spot at once? That didn't make much sense to him. They would swallow each other up. But maybe he was over-thinking this.

He stood in front of the fountain, staring at the shadow that was his reflection as it wobbled unsteadily. Bracing one knee against the concrete, he leaned down and dipped the fingers of his right hand into the cool liquid. Hey, if he could control water now, did that mean he could freeze it too? He didn't see why not. He would be forcing the molecules to slow their movement, taking their energy away. That's what freezing is, after all.

He held his palm against the water like it was a table. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. As he released it, he imagined he was pulling the energy away from the water molecules. He felt a chill run through his veins, and he heard a crackling sound. He didn't break his concentration until he heard the sound stop. He opened his eyes and gasped despite himself.

It had worked! The entire fountain was frozen in a picturesque winter wonderland. The water was all pale, cold, and frozen, and the little bursts of water had chilled into misshapen, curved columns. Amazing. And he hadn't even thought it would work. He looked up to where the moon was shining weakly through the thickening cloud layer. It was possible that his, ah, waterbending was stronger at night, especially with a fat moon. That would explain the "itching" in his fingertips. It was like getting a buzz from moonlight.

He still didn't quite believe his eyes, so he decided to try a few more things. First, _un_freezing the water. He raised his arms so that they were in front of him, bending his elbows slightly and arching his hands. As he exhaled, he relaxed his hands. He was immensely surprised when all the ice melted, and the water started running again. So then he tried to pick up the water, like Yue had taught him. He took the stance, and suddenly it was like he was back in his Tai Chi classes.

So that was how it was. This whole Waterbending thing was based off of Tai Chi. It clicked into place in his mind, and he smirked. He had a feeling he was going to be able to figure this out much easier now. He was one step closer to "mastering the water."

Insert evil laugh here.

* * *

Mokuba was asleep when he got home, so he figured he'd go straight to bed. He was bone tired, and maybe if he slept on it, he'd be able to figure out what the "four elements in one spot" thing meant.

So either he slept later than he intended, or Mokuba got up early. He doubted the first, but doubt the latter even more. When he trod downstairs, Mokuba was in the den watching the news channel.

Aiko the news anchorwoman sat next to her fellow anchor Takahashi. The only thing special about their appearances was that they wore make-up and nice suits. Aiko was talking into the camera.

"_Recently, Domino has been plagued by strange occurrences, and all of them seem to be centered around Seto Kaiba, CEO and president of the notorious Kaiba Corporation. Just last night, something happened on the top floor of his office building. Victims are not specifying what exactly occurred. The only thing we know for sure is that eyewitness accounts say they saw a rolling chair break the window and fall to the ground. Minutes later, a small girl was also thrown out, but she somehow slowed before hitting the ground. Eyewitnesses say they saw her glow, but can they be trusted?"_

Takahashi continued the speech. _"Eyewitnesses also say that they saw her run up the side of the building with the aid of wind. However, it has been noted that the sewage systems have been emitting noxious fumes that are known to cause hallucinations. Later that night, CEO Seto Kaiba walked out refusing to talk to any reporters, even replying to questions with threats. Reporters waited outside his house, but he never arrived. It is assumed he was skillfully dodging the reporters."_

Kaiba scowled at the screen, coming up behind the couch Mokuba was curled up on. Aiko took over once more.

"_Another occurrence was found just this morning. An early jogger was running in the park when she saw a magnificent ice sculpture made out of the fountain."_ A picture appeared over Aiko's left shoulder. The corner of Kaiba's mouth twitched. _"Scientists are marveling at this inhumanly-made sculpture, but the real marvel is how all the ice froze overnight, seeing as it never dropped below ten degrees Celsius."_

"Wow," Mokuba breathed. "That's awesome."

The picture was indeed a magnificent ice sculpture. Brilliantly carved, it boasted magnificent swirls and waves. It also, ironically, sported a large, graceful Blue Eyes White Dragon in the middle, popping up to open its mouth at the video camera. Vibrant rainbows bounced off of it as the morning sun hit it.

"Isn't it?"

Mokuba gave a little shout, bounced up, and turned around, all in the same second. "Seto! You surprised me!"

Kaiba lifted a fine eyebrow. "So. Like my sculpture."

Mokuba's mouth stretched from ear to ear in a gargantuan grin. "_You_ did that? That's amazing! How'd you do it!?"

Kaiba looked nonchalantly at his nails. "It took all night, I'll give you that."

"Must've taken a lot of energy," Mokuba cooed, leaning forward to put his chin on the back of the couch.

Kaiba nodded, but said nothing. Mokuba continued talking.

"So, what makes all those little rainbows?"

"Mokuba, you know this. It's simple science."

"I knooooow," Mokuba whined. "But I forgoooooooot."

Kaiba sighed, defeated as his little brother looked up at him with his deadly Bambi-eyes. "It's when the sun's light refracts through droplets of water or mist…" Suddenly, Kaiba paused, eyes narrowing.

Mokuba titled his head like a puppy. "Eh? What is it, Big Brother?"

"_In other news,"_ Takahashi was saying, _"Today we will get sun after a long week of heavy cloud cover. Light, fluffy clouds are full of rain. We might get a rainbow today, if we're lucky."_

Kaiba ignored his little brother for the moment. The sun is a ball of fire in space that gives off light. Air is everywhere. Earth is underfoot. And water comes down in rain. That's it! There's going to be a rainbow today, and _that's_ the portal, he just knew it.

"Give me a minute," he told his brother, spinning around to head to the portable phone on a table at the back of the room. Just as he picked it up, it rang, and he nearly dropped it. Silently chastising himself, he pressed a button and put it next to his ear. "Hello, Kaiba residence."

"_Ah, Kaiba, it's Yugi." _

He knew that. He had Caller ID. He had to have it, or else he'd be answering to more paparazzi than he could handle.

"_Nice ice sculpture today,"_ Yugi said sarcastically. Kaiba smirked.

"Oh, how ever did you guess _I_ did it?" he replied, equally sarcastic.

He heard Yugi laugh. _"Oh, I dunno. I think the Blue Eyes gave it away."_

Kaiba allowed Yugi to laugh once more before becoming serious. "Yugi, I think I've figured out the portal."

Yugi's reply was cynical. _"I thought you didn't believe in this sort of stuff."_

Kaiba quickly thought up an answer to that. "While I don't quite believe it, it's still a puzzle. And I've just solved it."

"_That's great! What is it?"_

Kaiba glanced over his shoulder to look at the TV. It was on a commercial break. "A rainbow," he said breathlessly, gaining speed as he explained his reasoning. "A rainbow is caused by light refracting through water, is it not? Yes, it is. Well, the sun is a source of light, and it's made up of _fire_. It refracts through _water_ to form a light spectrum in the _air_."

"_What about earth?"_

Kaiba rolled his eyes, but continued anyway. "From the ground, it looks as though the rainbow goes into the _earth_. Believe me yet?"

Yugi was getting excited, too. _"Yes, I believe you! I'll tell the others. Where should we meet?"_

Kaiba had to think about that one. What if it doesn't rain? He'd need a backup plan. Which means he'd need a nice source of water. Smirking, he cast one more glance at the television screen. "The fountain in the park."

"_Oh, and one more thing,"_ Yugi quickly said. _"Kaiba, _try_ not to draw so much attention to yourself. The media is getting suspicious."_

Kaiba just laughed.

* * *

**Note: 10 degrees Celsius is fifty degrees Fahrenheit. The reporter is making an approximation.**

**Yeah, it's a little short, but I want to give the other characters the limelight too, not just Kaiba. This is centered around all four of them, not just the smexy CEO! Though, this isn't the end of the demons coming after him specifically... he's the LAST to believe. And he's the most fun to torture. Kekekekeke...**

**Review please! Thanks!  
**


	10. Dirt

**Happy New Year's! It's a last update before I go. Hope you enjoy it.

* * *

**"Valon, wake up!"

"Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrg," he groaned groggily, rubbing his eyes. He was having a nice, non-Earthbending related dream. Speaking of dreams, none of the Benders had revisited the Spirit World, strangely enough.

He opened his eyes blearily to see Rebecca standing over him.

"Thank god," she said. "I was about to pour cold water on you face."

Valon moaned sleepily once more and used his elbows to prop himself up. He was sleeping on the couch. Rebecca took Yugi's only guest bedroom…

"What is it…?" he asked drowsily.

Rebecca rolled her eyes. "Have you forgotten? Today's the day the portal opens."

Valon yawned and stretched, swinging his legs over the side of the couch. "Oh, I remember. Figured it out yet?"

"Actually, yeah," she told him. "Kaiba called like, half an hour ago. He told us to meet him at the park in front of the fountain."

He frowned. "The fountain? Why?"

She shrugged. "I dunno why. Yugi was the one who picked up the phone. That's what he told us."

Valon inhaled deeply. "All right." He pulled his goggles and let them snap back to his head. "Shall we go?"

"Actually, we have to wait for Anzu," Rebecca huffed.

Valon sighed and smacked his forehead with a palm. "Then why'd you wake me up!?"

Rebecca rolled her eyes and said nothing, choosing instead to turn on her heel and walk into the kitchen. Cooking smells wafted from that room, making his stomach growl.

He grinned at himself. "Guess I didn't realize how hungry I was," he muttered. He got up and followed Rebecca's path to the kitchen for some breakfast.

* * *

Valon and the others stood in front of the fountain, impatient. The ice had melted somewhat in the sunlight, and some of the more top-heavy parts had broken off and shattered on the ground. Kaiba had said to meet them here, and he himself was late!

Yugi tried to keep the silence from becoming awkward. "So, uh… Anzu, Valon, have you two tried, you know, Bending, yet?"

Anzu looked sheepish. "No," she said shyly. Valon simply shook his head. He was on a bench, and he let the morning sun warm his face. There were a lot of people in the park today, especially around the fountain. You could probably guess why.

"Where is he!?" Rebecca cried, flopping onto Valon's bench. "You'd think someone like him would be more punctual!"

Yugi shrugged. "No one really knows what goes on inside that guy's head."

Valon closed his eyes. "He could be planning to kill us all, and we'd have no idea," he joked half-heartedly. He was still sleepy…

A shadow fell across his face. He cracked open one eye to see the devil himself leaning over him. He jerked up and twisted around to face Kaiba.

"Maybe I should stop sneaking up on people," the CEO mused. "I seem to get that reaction a lot."

Anzu glared at him. "You kept us waiting!" she chastised.

Kaiba shrugged, not caring. "I got sidetracked."

Valon noticed that he wore a bag with a long strap across his chest. "What's that for?" he asked, reaching over and lifting it up.

"Ammo," the CEO replied simply. He lifted the clasp and dipped his hand inside the black bag. He took out a plastic water bottle and tossed up, letting it fall back into his hand.

"Clever," Rebecca complimented.

"Yeah," Valon joked. "Maybe I should keep a sack of dirt around my neck, too." That got a few laughs.

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "Well, come on. The fountain isn't the best spot to open a portal."

"And whose fault is that?" Anzu told him, a smirk on her face.

"The moon's," he replied smoothly and dryly, turning around. "Come if you want."

"Hell, I'm not missing out on this," Rebecca muttered, vaulting over the bench. Anzu and Valon took the easier route. They walked around it. Yugi jogged to keep up with them.

"So why isn't Jounouchi here?" Valon asked pleasantly.

Yugi glanced away. "Oh, um…"

"You didn't invite him?"

"No…"

Valon ruffled the short teen's hair. "Eh, don't worry about it. He probably wouldn't have gotten up anyway."

Kaiba suddenly stopped up ahead in another small clearing, and they soon knew why. He stood in front of a wrought iron fence that encased a small enclosure. Inside the fence were two granite tombstones, polished and gleaming underneath two pale pink bushes. Squat green bushes were based at the opposite end. On one of the tombstones it read:

_Kobayashi Ayako _

And on the other:

_Kobayashi Hiroyuki _

"Kaiba, what are you doing?" Anzu demanded as the CEO coolly lifted the latch of the gate and pushed it open. The hinges whined with age. "You're intruding on graves! That's very…"

"Necessary," he interrupted. He had walked in somewhat, and now turned to face them.

Valon grinned. "I do believe it's time to open us some portals," he said.

"How do we know we're doing it at the right time?" Rebecca pointed out.

Kaiba turned around again, to face the graves. "We don't," he said simply. He took out a water bottle again and twisted the cap with his thumb. He lifted his free hand so that it was positioned gracefully over the opening. He dropped the bottle, but it left the water behind as it bounced to the ground.

"Cool," Anzu whispered. The four of them watched Kaiba's back as he lifted the water above his head. He jerked his hands and arms apart, spreading his fingers out. The water seemed to burst. Droplets zoomed outwards only to slow down and hover in the air as if frozen in time. Sunlight filtered through it, and everyone could see beautiful colors suspended in an arc.

"That's amazing, Kaiba!" Yugi complimented. "Is that what you were doing all night?"

"If by that you mean changing the state of matter of the water, then yes," Kaiba replied, albeit a little late in an effort not to lose concentration. He pushed the droplets in front of him, so that they and the rainbow were above the tombstones. It looked as though the rainbow was actually entering the granite.

It didn't take too long for Valon to feel the earth tremble.

It took only a fraction of a second longer for the portal to open.

Time seemed to slow for Valon. The water molecules shot towards each other, becoming a dense, tightly-packed shifting ball directly in front of Kaiba. It captured sunlight and glowed with the beams of fire. The rainbow shimmered in the air, but remained there instead of vanishing, curling over the ball of water. Loose dirt spiraled up to join the liquid in the air. All in about a second.

The explosion was massive. So much that the bushes were stripped bare. The tombstones chipped. The grass flattened out. They were all lifted off their feet and thrown mercilessly backwards. Valon didn't see what happened to Kaiba, but he knew it couldn't be good.

Luck took pity on them. They did not hit any trees. But that didn't stop Valon's head from cracking against a stone sticking up out of the dirt. Stars popped in front of his eyes. Somehow, it was registered that Anzu gasped.

"Look!" she shouted, pointing. Valon struggled to sit up, but somehow he managed it. His head throbbed painfully.

The air was shimmering between the tombstones, almost like a heat wave on a hot day. Several shadowy, humanoid shapes formed. The portal mercilessly spat a group of people to the now-wet ground before dissipating. The ground was wet where they fell, and they weren't exactly all human. A giant white bison-like creature and a smaller lemur-like creature had been placed behind the now-bare bushes, along with three large lizards dressed up like horses.

Three girls were the first to their feet. They leapt up, glancing around. One of them looked extremely angry. All three of them had dark hair and red clothes. They didn't look too friendly.

Four others stood up too, utterly confused. One was bald, with a blue arrow tattoo on his head, garbed in orange and yellow. Two others looked related, with blue robes, blue eyes, and tan skin. The last one was a small girl with black hair and green robes. Her eyes were pale, like a blind person's.

One of them remained on the ground, attending to the last one. This one looked like a teenager, with dark hair cropped short and a red burn across the left side of his face. The last one was an old man with long gray hair. Both were dressed raggedly. All except the first three looked travel-weary.

Valon widened his eyes and leapt to his feet too. Anzu, Yugi, and Rebecca did the same. Kaiba was no where to be seen. "Hey!" he shouted. "Who are you!?"

Without saying a word, the girl dressed in red armor threw the first punch. A jet of fire streamed from her fist. Valon flinched, raising his arms to defend himself, but suddenly the flames were dispelled by water. He glanced over his shoulder to see…

Kaiba! He has favoring his ribcage as he stepped out of the shadows of the trees, but otherwise looked fine.

"I thought you used your water!" Rebecca told him, though gratefulness laced her words.

"I'm not an idiot," he replied. "I brought more than one bottle." He glared at the nine people. "Tell us who you are."

"Ty Lee, Mai," said the girl who had shot fire at Valon. "Go!"

The girls flanking her nodded. One had the lightest hair of the three, long and done in a braid. This one ran forward speedily, pushing the others aside to get to Kaiba. The other had short bushy black hair and long robes. Her hand movements were quick, and Valon soon knew why. Yugi shouted in surprise as throwing stars pinned him to the tree behind him.

The girl named Ty Lee threw two-fingered jabs at Kaiba. He blocked them easily, and at one point, he grabbed her wrist and twisted it. Hard. She cried out in pain, and he shoved her away.

Valon knew it was time to take action. He took a deep breath and planted his feet. "I hope this works," he whispered to himself. He did an arm motion that was like an uppercut, and the earth beneath the nameless girl shot up in a column. She was launched back.

"Retreat!" she shouted, and her two lackeys rushed back to her. They mounted the three lizards and were off between the trees.

Valon noticed that the ones remaining had stood up and taken fighting stances also – except, of course, the old man. The young girl stomped her foot, and a nicely-sized rock jerked out of the ground, which proceeded to rocket towards Rebecca. The blonde didn't expect that, and it hit her in the gut.

Kaiba lifted both hands and clenched them into a fist. The wet ground rose up around the young girl's feet and froze. She screeched in surprise. In answer, the bald kid jumped forward and swung his arm through the air like a scythe. Kaiba couldn't help but cry out as the air sliced into him, ripping his clothes and skin open while at the same time pushing him back.

Valon replied to this by trying the uppercut move again. However, when the earth popped up, the kid used it like a spring board and landed safely back on the ground. Anzu took a deep breath and spun around quickly as if she was dancing. At the completion of her rotation, she thrust a fist out, and fire jetted towards where the kid landed. The kid tried to dispel the fire with air, but just wasn't quick enough, and was blasted backwards.

The tan boy stepped forward and threw a boomerang. Anzu ducked, and it embedded itself in the trunk of a tree. The other girl succeeded him by summoning water from a pouch she was carrying. She thrust her hands out and the water lashed like a whip, knocked Anzu to the ground.

Rebecca looked like she wanted to do something, but Valon stepped forward. "Stop, stop, stop," he said, moving to the center of the battlefield. As much as he liked to fight… "This is getting us nowhere. Hi, I'm Valon. Nice to meet you."

* * *

**Yup. See ya next year! (lolololol I made a funny!)**

**Review, if you will please. ^.^  
**


	11. Spark

**Surprise! It's an update!**

**Okay, it's not my greatest chapter of all time, but it had to be done. You'll see what I mean by the end of it. **

**I think you'd probably prefer me to update three stories once than one story three times, but here's my New Year's Gift. The third update of "WEFA" in four days.

* * *

**When Valon introduced himself, Anzu watched the remaining people hesitate. The bald kid looked less hesitant and hopped forward.

"I'm Aang!" he said joyfully. Anzu resisted the urge to smack her hand to her forehead in a facepalm. This kid had gone from fighting to friendly so quickly…

Apparently, the girl in blue agreed with her. "Aang," she called, "what are you doing!?"

The boy named Aang looked back. "Who knows?" he pointed out. "They might be friendly!"

The girl _did_ facepalm herself. "We were just fighting them!"

Aang's happy face dropped a little. "But we were all just confused…"

Anzu sighed, turned around, and wrenched the boomerang out of the wood. "Actually, we kind of knew what was going to happen. But we didn't expect this many people, nor a fight." She held out the boomerang like an offering. "I'm Anzu."

All of the newcomers glared at her except Aang – and the guy with the burn, but he was glaring at everyone. Aang instead said with a grin, "Hi, Anzu!" She chewed her lip as he took back the boomerang and handed it back to the boy in blue. Why did they hate her? Was it because of Firebending? Oh, she knew it wasn't a good thing, no matter _what_ Roku was saying…

The girl in blue sighed. "Well, if you think it's okay…" she muttered. "At least we're not fighting anymore." She looked up. "My name's Katara, and this is my brother, Sokka."

The boy called Sokka had been cradling his boomerang, but looked up when he was introduced. "Katara!" he complained. "I can introduce myself!"

"Obviously not," Valon joked, beaming in good nature. "You and that boomerang were… _busy_." Aang and Katara giggled. The shorter girl laughed right out. Sokka, on the other hand, didn't like being teased. He came back with a smart reply.

"Heeeeeeeey!"

Yugi smiled. "That's, uh, great. Um, can I get a little help here?"

"Sure, Yugi," Valon said, pulling some of the throwing stars out of the bark. "That girl had good aim!"

Yugi brushed off his jacket sleeves with a sigh. He'd have to get new clothes for this… "Yeah, I bet she could've taken my head off if she wanted to…" He looked up at the newcomers. "I'm Yugi by the way. That's Rebecca over there." He pointed to the little blonde. Her arms were crossed, and it looked like she wasn't about to speak any time soon.

"Toph's the name!" the smaller girl said, jabbing a thumb into her chest.

Anzu eyed Toph carefully. "Toph," she began hesitantly, "are you… blind?"

The girl's smile fell into a scowl. "Officially, yes. But I have no problem seeing, missy!" Anzu raised an eyebrow. The girl had some attitude.

She heard a low moan. She glanced around and saw Kaiba push himself into a sitting position, hunched over with one hand clutching a wound on his chest. It was a long cut starting from one shoulder and curving ever-so slightly to just below his ribs. It wasn't that deep, but it was bleeding enough to stain his hand red.

Aang's voice was weighted with a ton of guilt. "Oh, sorry about that… really really really really really sorry… We were surprised, and–"

"Shut up!" Kaiba spat, his eyes narrow and his face screwed in anger. "Leave me alone!"

Anzu's heart twanged when Aang's eyes grew wide. "Aang," she said. "Don't worry about Kaiba. He's a jerk."

"Yeah," Yugi said with a short laugh. "I can vouch for her."

Rebecca finally spoke up. "Hey, you in the back. With the burn. Who the hell are you?"

The boy with the burn narrowed his eyes, but did not answer.

"Oh, that's Zuko," Sokka said venomously. "Crown Prince."

"Shut up before I toast you," Zuko snarled.

Meanwhile, Katara had warily approached Kaiba. "Hey, you know, I could help…"

"I don't want your goddamn help," he scowled.

"Look," she said calmly, taking out the water in her pouch. She held it in front of her until it glowed softly. "I can heal it, if you let me."

He glared at her poisonously. "You're treating me like some kind of damn beast."

She hardened her own gaze. "Then act like a human."

Finally, he flopped down, closing his eyes. He waved one arm lazily. "Fine, then. Do what you will. I'm too tired to do anything."

Katara took that as an invitation, and ran the glowing water up and down his wound in a soothing motion. She tried sparking a conversation with him. "You know, for someone your age, you're not a very good Waterbender…"

Anzu bent down next to the girl. "Actually, we haven't been Benders our whole lives."

Katara glanced up at her, surprised. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is… you're on a completely different world now. Everything here is different. And I don't fully understand what's going on either."

"Guys!" two voices rang out. Valon and Toph shot each other strange looks. "Something's underground!"

The three of them – Anzu, Katara, and Kaiba – leapt to their feet. Kaiba's wound had stopped bleeding, but he might have a scar for a few weeks. Valon and Toph were pointing at the tombstones. It looked like the earth in front of them was bubbling. The dirt was shifting around like something was worming underneath it. Suddenly, a mangled hand with yellow, chipped nails shot out of the ground, curving like a claw. A similar one lurched out in front of the other tombstone.

Anzu noticed that the old man and Zuko were still inside the fenced-in area. She shouted, "Are you daft! Get out of there!"

Toph grumbled and swung her arm in a sweeping motion in front of her. The ground beneath the old man and Zuko moved them away from the tombstones. The prince struggled to remain standing until Toph put them down outside the gate.

Duplicate hands followed the ones sticking up. Then they pushed against the ground, and two corpses rose out. The dirt fell away from their mottled skin. Their eye sockets were empty, the eyeballs having rotted away. Their hair was stringy and thin, and it could be seen through their open mouths that their gums had receded, making their teeth look longer. Their gray skin clung to their pronounced bones, and in some places it had completely decayed.

"Eew," Rebecca said, scrunching her nose. "That's gross."

"That's an understatement," Anzu said, her voice trembling slightly.

"Relax," Kaiba said gruffly. They all looked at him. "Please, these aren't reanimated corpses. The people in those graves have been dead for a hundred years. They wouldn't look like that."

"Then what are those!?" Katara cried, her water ready at her side.

"Demons…" he hissed, his fists clenching. "It figures they'd arrive."

"I don't care _what_ they are!" Zuko bellowed. "Grrr!" He growled, drawing a fist back and punching it forward. A jet of flame licked at one of the corpses – I mean, demons. It gave an ear-splitting shriek as its decayed flesh caught. The fire swiftly ate up the skin, hungrily swallowing the entire being.

"It's weak against fire!" Yugi called. "Anzu, do it!"

Anzu gulped, her pulse quickening. She'd already done Firebending once today. Blood pounded in her ears. She barely heard Kaiba shout angrily, "Dammit, Mazaki! Just do it!" She inhaled deeply through her nose, curling her fingers to form a fist. She thought back to her dance lesson just yesterday.

"All right," she said quietly. "Fine." She clacked her heels together and raised her arms over her head, her fists coming together, thumb to thumb. She drew her hands apart, slowly at first, and then snapping them almost to her side. A stream of fire followed her right hand. She imagined it was like a ribbon and swung it in a spiral overhead. Finally, she whipped her arm forward. The ribbon of flame crackled forward, lashing the remaining corpse-demon. When it hit, she released her fist, and the fire curled around the creature. It, too, shrieked. Both corpse-demons fell to the ground, unable to stand on their charred legs, and burned into dust.

"I thought you said you only started Bending a few days ago," Katara taunted, but she couldn't hide how impressed she really was. "For a Firebender, you're pretty cool."

Anzu took a shaky breath, and then smiled. "I just made up that move a few seconds ago. It was half luck that it worked."

"That's what happens when they throw this stuff at us," she heard Kaiba grumble. "They teach us a few moves then send us on our merry ways." He turned on his heel and disappeared between the trees, obviously tired of these people.

"Who?" Aang asked.

Valon put a hand on his forehead like he had a headache. "Can't we tell you guys later? I mean, we've got an old man out of commission there, we've got demons attacking us around every corner, _and_ we have three refugee people who seem capable of murder on the loose, who are probably in the city by now. We _so_ do not need more mayhem like that."

"Valon's right," Anzu said.

"Why?" Sokka asked. "If it's a city, they won't care. They're used to Benders, aren't they?"

Rebecca snapped at him, "This isn't your world anymore. This is _our_ world. You're looking at the only four Benders on this entire planet – well, three, Kaiba left – but still! No one knows about us, or the demons, and we want to keep it that way! You have to follow _our_ rules now."

"Well, what do we do?" Aang asked. It sounded like he was getting worried now.

"We need to capture those three," she responded. "They definitely won't come willingly."

"First we need to find them," Anzu spoke up. "But you guys stick out like a sore thumb…"

"Maybe they should hide at my place," Yugi offered. "It might be getting a bit cramped, but we can relocate them later."

"Good idea," Anzu told him. "What about the… old man?"

"He's not just an old man!" Zuko said heatedly. "He's Iroh."

"Azula shot him with lighting," Katara said somberly. "Azula's the Firebending girl who ran off."

"You can do that?" Anzu asked, surprised. She shook her head. "No, that doesn't matter. Why don't we get him to a hospital?"

"I can take him there with Grandpa," Yugi said. "I won't be much help with you guys anyway." Zuko narrowed his eyes. Yugi saw the look. "You can come too. Just don't try to kill me, 'kay?" he added cheerfully.

"I'll get Kaiba," Rebecca suggested.

"All right," Anzu summed up, clapping her hands together once. "Let's move out."

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed that. The talking KILLED me. But it had to be done. They had to be all introduced, and they had to make a plan... yeah, you get my reasoning? **

**Well, review please anyway. ^.^  
**


	12. Wind

**Previously: Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai have run away from the park. Rebecca, Anzu, and Valon have to go and capture them before they cause havoc. But first, Rebecca has to fetch Kaiba, who had stormed out earlier.

* * *

**

Rebecca twirled around and dashed between the trees to chase after Kaiba. She glanced up and grinned. She thrust her hands behind her and pushed off the ground with her feet. With the aid of wind, she launched herself onto a branch, and continued to tree hop. It didn't take long for her to see Kaiba marching between the trees. She continued to leap from branch to branch until she could land in front of him.

"Enjoying yourself, I see," Kaiba said harshly. He was in a _very_ bad mood.

"Actually, yeah, I am," Rebecca quipped. "But really, we kinda need you back."

Kaiba crossed his arms. "I'm sure you can get those three back without my help. It's only been a day or so, and I'm already sick and tired of this crap."

"Yeah, I can see that," she told him dryly, wrinkling her nose at him. "But we really do need your help. The other people, Aang and his friends, they're going back to Yugi's, so they can't help us."

Kaiba raised one eyebrow. "Why?"

"They stick out like a sore thumb, we're trying to be undercover, and we don't have the time to get them new clothes right now," Rebecca ranted. "Just… Okay, one of the girls is a Firebender, so we need a Waterbender to counter her."

Kaiba rolled his eyes, much to her frustration. "The other elements work just fine against fire."

"You fought that other girl pretty well," Rebecca added, trying to convince him to come with her. "I don't think we can fight hand-to-hand as well as you can."

"How flattering of you."

She furrowed her brow, resisting the urge to knock him on his butt. "Come on, Kaiba! We can't do this with just three people. They're more experienced than us, and we need our numbers."

"If you were really that desperate, you'd have Aang and his buddies with you."

She got the sense he was taunting her. So she gave into her temptation. She slashed her hand through the air in front of her. He must've seen this coming, though, for he leapt easily to the side to avoid the resounding blade of wind. And he was _laughing._

"All right, all right," he said, chuckling still. "If you're _that_ willing to attack me."

Rebecca didn't reply. She turned on her heel in a huff and marched back the way she came. She heard Kaiba's footsteps behind her, following her. She really didn't like the guy. He was a snob, and a jerk. Must he taunt everyone? Must he be so pigheaded? He made her angry just by looking at him.

Soon enough, they got back to the clearing with the graves. Yugi had left, along with all the newcomers. So it was just Anzu and Valon waiting for them.

"Hey Valon," Rebecca asked. "Do you think you could track those girls?"

The brunet shrugged. "I doubt it."

"Hn," grumbled Kaiba. His laugh had vanished like it never existed, and he was back to his grumpy self. "It shouldn't be too hard to find them if we, oh say, go in the direction they did."

"Hate to agree with Kaiba," Anzu said, "but I do. Let's just go, before they cause mayhem."

As it turned out, it wasn't all that difficult to track them in the park. The three girls had been in such a rush that they hadn't really bothered to cover their tracks. Broken tree branches, careless muddy footprints, and the occasional smoldering bush led the way. Once out of the park, it was a little bit trickier. They ended up running to the left. Azula had apparently set a car on fire in that direction, and it had exploded soon thereafter. They tried following the telltale marks, but the four Benders ended up more often taking the route that had the most shocked and surprised people on it. It appeared that Azula and her two cronies (or were they her friends?) were headed into the less populated section of Domino City, near all the warehouses and old, abandoned buildings.

The real cincher was when the four of them turned a corner and faced a crowd of roughly twenty people, all strewn about casually but facing the same direction. They were staring at the Benders with hardened faces, and – get this – black eyes. The kind of black eyes Kaiba had when _he_ was possessed.

"Oh this can't be good," Kaiba muttered.

"Understatement of the year," Rebecca said matter-of-factly, immediately taking a fighting stance. "We're outnumbered, and we're amateurs. Call us noobs, thinking we could take those three girls on."

"We had to do something," Anzu reminded her.

"This is bad, though," Valon added. "If these people are gonna attack us, we can't attack back. No matter demons are involved, they're still innocent bystanders."

"What _I_ want to know is where all these freaking demons come from!" Rebecca exclaimed. "Damn!"

"Shut up already!" she heard Kaiba snarl. He pointed at a small column of black smoke in the distance. "I'm willing to bet that those idiot girls are at that warehouse. Let's just _move_."

"Someone has _his_ boxers in a knot," Valon mumbled under his breath. Kaiba didn't hear him, and Rebecca assumed that was a good thing. If the CEO had heard, she was certain Valon would've met an icy death.

Kaiba had barely taken a step when the first person attacked. It was a middle-aged woman, and she simply threw herself and him. Rebecca acted quickly and sent a current of air to knock the woman down. As soon as that woman fell, the rest of the crowd reacted. The twenty-something people all lunged for the four Benders with bloodthirsty visages.

"Looks like we're going to have to fight our way after all," Anzu noted sadly.

"Not if I can help it," Valon said, gritting his teeth. He took a firm stance and thrust his two fists up in the air. The earth below the four of them rumbled and shot up in a massive column. It was all they could do to stay standing. Valon stopped it when it was as tall as the building next to them. They jumped onto the roof, and the column slid quickly back into the ground.

"Nice move," Rebecca complimented.

Valon was panting slightly. "Thank the adrenaline. Phew!"

"Now what?" Anzu pondered. "We can't jump from roof to roof. The buildings are short and far apart here. If it was more in the central part of Domino, it'd be easier…"

"But then those girls would've caused more havoc than they already did," Kaiba pointed out.

Rebecca shrugged. "I could go on ahead of you guys…"

Amidst their discussion, they didn't notice black shadows gather behind them. Out of the shadows rose four large, dark shapes. They made quick work. One arm wrapped swiftly around the torsos of their targets. The other arm was used to muffle the Benders' screams, with massive hands covering their captives' eyes and mouths. Then they backed into the shadows once more.

* * *

The hand as big as a garbage can lid smelled like rotting flesh, Rebecca decided. It wasn't very pleasant. And then there was a sensation of being squeezed _very_ tightly – like the very air was constricting around her – only added to the discomfort. This sensation thankfully ended after some seconds. The creature then mercilessly threw her to the ground – which was a very dusty, wood plank floor. She didn't get a good look at them before the shrouds of shadows encased them.

From her vantage point on the ground, she saw Kaiba leap to his feet, ready to fight, only for one of the girls from earlier to take him by surprise and jab him in several places. It was the girl he had fought and beaten, Rebecca realized. Kaiba fell into a heap back onto the ground, causing dust to plume up. He moaned and curled up on himself. Rebecca knew this act was subconscious. The Kaiba she knew wouldn't do that willingly in front of them.

"This is why I didn't want to do this…" he groaned. He swore. "She blocked my chi…"

_He would know_, Rebecca thought grimly. _I wasn't lying when I told him he could probably fight better than us. So now they've taken our best fighter. Now what?_

"Stand up, the lot of you," came a cold, flat voice. "I can't bear to see you slumped on the floor like a group of weaklings."

Rebecca half-considered not standing up, just to defy this mean feminine voice. But then she wouldn't be able to fight. So she slowly pushed herself to her feet to look her foe in the face. Valon and Anzu did the same to her right – Kaiba was the only one to her left. As she suspected, the voice belonged to Azula, the apparent leader of the trio of girls they were chasing. The girl who had immobilized Kaiba bounced back to her side, and Rebecca realized her eyes were black, too, symbolizing that she was possessed. Actually, the other girl – Rebecca believed her name was Mai – was possessed, too, her eyes eerily matching her hair. Azula was sitting in a high-backed chair like it was a throne. Her amber eyes gazed icily at them.

"You need to come back with us," Anzu said, unable to keep the slight shake out of her voice.

"As if," Azula sneered. "No, thank you, I think I'm okay."

"Chyeah, like allowing your friends to be possessed by demons is okay," Valon scoffed back.

The girl narrowed her already narrow eyes. "These _demons_ offered to help. Ty Lee and Mai were a bit squeamish, so they _helped_ them too."

"You're a sick person," Rebecca told her. "Yet another reason we need to capture you."

Suddenly, Kaiba let out a strangled gasp. Rebecca whirled around to see a hideous creature holding him tightly. It had four arms, and had a body made entirely of a strange, hard black substance. It had two legs and spikes everywhere. The demon held a particularly nasty-looking, knife-like spike at Kaiba's throat, its twisted face grinning with at least three rows of teeth as sharp as razorblades. A long, thick tail wound around its legs, twitching every so often.

"I don't think you're in the position to capture me," Azula said smoothly.

"Let him go!" Anzu snarled. Rebecca never heard her so angry before. "You sick, crazy, perverted person!"

"Just do it," they heard Kaiba choke out. They glanced back at him. "Capture her. I'll be fine."

"Oh, you're such a saint," Azula drawled. "Willing to die so… _gallantly._" She looked back at Rebecca, Valon, and Anzu. "If you take even one step towards me, your friend's throat gets slit."

"Why are you doing this?" Valon growled.

Azula twirled a lock of hair carelessly. "That bald kid you saw, Aang. He's the Avatar. These… demons. They agreed to help me kill him. In return, all _I_ have to do is open a few portals… and they'll do the rest. I've already opened one."

"That explains all the demons…" Rebecca muttered. She glanced back at Kaiba. Oh, she wished she had telepathy now, so she could communicate to Valon and Anzu for an attack plan. She had one, but there was almost no way she could tell the others. If Valon and Anzu doubled up and went against Azula, Rebecca would get that demon away from Kaiba.

She stared hard at those two. She'd have to clue them in somehow. They looked over at her, thankfully. She jerked her head ever so slightly towards Azula. They nodded a tiny bit to show their consent. She blinked once, took a deep breath, and shouted, "NOW!"

It all happened very fast. At the same time Valon and Anzu lunged for Azula, Rebecca launched herself at the demon holding Kaiba captive. Kaiba flinched as the monster pressed its blade against his throat, preparing to slice it. A little bit of blood even trickled down his skin. But Rebecca was determined to keep him alive. She pushed off of the ground and sailed through the air. She kicked out her leg and slammed her foot into the demon. It staggered back with her weight, effectively dropping him. She wasted no time, slicing her hand through the air like she did back at the clearing. The blade of air sliced through its arm, too weak to completely sever it, but enough to do some damage. The demon howled and lurched at Rebecca. Thanking her lucky stars she was still twelve and short, she was able to duck under the black mass.

What she didn't compensate for, in the rush of battle, was the demon's long, thick tail. It socked her in the gut. Fortunately for Rebecca, no spikes pierced her stomach, though pain _did_ erupt in her left thigh. She was sent flying into the wall. She knew then that this battle was hopeless. They had no chance of winning. The demons, and the three girls, they were too powerful.

In desperation, her mind called out. _Help!_ she thought. What she didn't know was that this plea for aid was sent out with her soul, not just with her mind. And, the other three Benders called out at the exact same time, in the exact same way.

Rebecca's forehead started to burn hotly, and she just _knew_ that the topaz mark on her skin was glowing. The world faded to white, and she saw the old man Gyatso in front of her.

"_Perhaps we sent you into battle too early,"_ he said without moving his mouth. _"I will assist you, for now, and afterwards, all four of you will be sent to a training arena."_

Everything flash a bright golden orange, and before she could tell what was happening, Rebecca was floating above it all, near the ceiling of the warehouse. Valon, Anzu, and even Kaiba were there too, baffled looks plastered on their now-translucent visages. Rebecca stared down, feeling as bewildered as the others looked. She could see herself fighting. It was an odd feeling, seeing yourself fight from the outside. The eyes on their bodies were glowing white, and their marks were glowing with their respective colors. And they were winning!

"Whoa," Anzu muttered. "That's so weird. What's going on?"

"I get it," said Rebecca. "Those spirit people, they've… possessed us."

Kaiba crossed his arms. "You know, I'm getting kind of tired of not having control over my motor skills."

Valon lightly punched the ghostly CEO on the shoulder. "Eh, cool off. It's just this once. Kyoshi said she'd send us to a training arena after, so we won't be so frickin' helpless."

"Roku said that too," added Anzu. "I wonder how it'll be like."

"I don't trust them," Kaiba grumbled. "They'll probably put us in a coma, or something while our _souls_" – he said that word with apparent distaste – "battle for survival."

Rebecca bristled. "Stop being such a prick. They're trying to help."

Kaiba gave a short _Ha!_ "Just wait until I'm proven right."

They watched the battle wrap up with Kyoshi – using Valon's body – trapping the three girls' hands behind their backs with stone. The demon that had almost killed Kaiba was finished off by "Anzu," and it burst into flames of its own, leaving nothing behind.* Ty Lee and Mai had the Possessing Demons knocked out of them by "Kaiba" and "Rebecca." Their eyes stopped glowing suddenly, and when Rebecca blinked, she was back in her own body.

Ty Lee groaned from where she was on the ground. "Ohhhh, my head hurts…"

Valon was the first one to snap into action. He strode over to Azula and hoisted her up from behind. "Alright," he said, "you're coming back with us." Anzu and Kaiba grabbed Ty Lee and Mai – respectively – seeing as Rebecca was too short to do that. Kaiba, keeping one hand on Mai's stone handcuff-things, flipped his cell phone open and called for someone to pick them up. Once that was done, he glared at everyone.

He repeated, "Just wait until I'm proven right."

* * *

***Like what the demons do in the TV show, Charmed. It's so they don't leave any evidence behind for mortals to see them...**

** Well, I'm not pleased with this chapter... Actually, I don't think I have been pleased with ANY of the few previous chapters. *sigh* Well, I'm not giving this story up, don't worry. Besides, it's Kaiba's turn next chapter, and it's a lot easier for me to write him. :3**

**Hope you enjoyed it anyway... I was stuck, so I threw in some demons. I'll try to not make that redundant. ;)  
**


	13. Rain

**Phew! I'm back! I'm trying not to favor Kaiba too much in this story. And, I'm trying to make it flow well. Well, the final judgment is up to you, my readers, in the end. Cheers!

* * *

**

Seto Kaiba and the others were driven to his mansion, where he grudgingly allowed for the newcomers and the three captives to stay. He allowed the newcomers to stay because Yugi's house simply didn't fit them all. However, he utterly refused to have anyone else there; he was being too nice already. The captives were there because in the mansion, it would be easier to lock them up and keep an eye on them generally.

Rebecca's left thigh had been pierced by the demon from before, so now her leg was all bandaged up. So now, Kaiba, Rebecca, Anzu, Valon, Mokuba, Aang, Katara, Toph, Sokka, Jounouchi, and Honda sat in the CEO's living room, waiting for Yugi and Zuko to return from the hospital. Secretly, they all wondered if Zuko was behaving. The "GAang" still didn't have normal clothes.

"So let me get this straight," Katara said. Kaiba respected her just a little bit, for though she was still a kid, she was obviously the smartest and most responsible of the four newcomers. "This world is basically parallel to ours, and there were previously no Benders at all until Yue, Avatar Kyoshi, Avatar Roku, and Monk Gyatso granted you all powers. There's a sort of transfer zone in between our worlds, which we know as the Spirit World. Portals are opening up, letting demons into this world, and they want to destroy it so that they can rebuild it and rule over the new one."

"That's right so far," Rebecca told her.

"But I've been to the Spirit World," Aang said. "I haven't seen any demons like the ones you've described to us. Maybe there are more Spirit Worlds?"

"I wouldn't doubt that," Anzu piped up. "I mean, Yugi's always saying something about a Shadow Realm… And the Shadow Realm is basically a place where monsters do exist. So maybe it's a completely different Spirit World, that's sort of like a combination of the two?"

"You're all being ridiculous," snapped Kaiba. He received a few glares, but he didn't care. "In your world," he said to Katara, "there is only one Spirit World. This is where all the dead go, all the spirits go, yadda yadda yadda. This is a completely different world from both ours and yours. Apparently, it's like the divider between them. The Shadow Realm," he added, "is something completely different. It's more like something that exists within our world. Like two translucent pictures on top of each other, where you can see both at the same time."

"I see _you've_ thought this through, Mr. Nonbeliever," Jou taunted.

Kaiba sneered at him. "If all you're going to do is throw insults, I would have to tell you to leave."

"Hey Mr. Mean and Nasty," Toph demanded, "what can a girl do to get a drink around here?"

"You could ask politely," Katara told her sternly, but not unkindly.

"I'll get you some water," Mokuba offered, standing up. "C'mon." Toph, despite her blindness, easily wound around the single coffee table and the other couches. The ravenet led the female Earthbender through two swinging doors into the kitchen.

"So, um…" Aang started nervously, glancing at Rebecca. "You're a… You're an Airbender too?"

Rebecca nodded. "Why do you look so surprised?"

"In our world," Katara explained, "all the Airbenders were wiped out. Well, except for Aang, of course. That's how everyone knows he's the next Avatar."

"And Avatars are the people who can master all four elements?" Valon clarified. All of the newcomers nodded their heads in unison.

Suddenly, though, pain shot through Kaiba's head, a blinding white pain behind his eyes. He launched up into a standing position, only dimly aware of his shins knocking against the table in front of him. The rest of the world was gone. It was only him and Yue, who faded into his sight. He clenched his hands in his head.

"What are you doing to me!?" he shouted at her. Yue looked on the verge of tears.

"I have to do this, Seto," she said to him. She held out her hands, and the pain in his head spiked horribly. He couldn't take it anymore and blacked out, his body falling back to the couch.

* * *

When he came to, Kaiba didn't know where he was. It looked like he was in a clearing, with trees encircling the open space, all packed densely together. The ground itself was an ugly, unnatural bleached color, like the sands of a desert. Cradling his pounding head, he looked up and squinted at a hideously bright sun. The sky was a pale blue, and not a cloud was in sight about the green crooked fingers of the trees around him. A couple paces away was a river about five feet wide, running at a leisurely rate and almost black with filth. There was no grass as far as he could see, in the clearing. He also noticed that he was wearing the all-black outfit from before, when he had first "synced" with his stone.

"Where am I?" he asked himself. Then he recalled something, a little while back… "DAMN IT!!!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. The spirits! True to their word, they've sent him to a "training" ground. The only source of water was that filthy river, too! How the heck did they expect him to survive?

He sighed in resignation. He'd have to do _something_. He noticed what looked like an old canteen. It was a round, thick disc with a leather strap to clip around his waist. He shrugged and picked it up. If he was going to go anywhere, he would need water, both for fighting and for drinking. But the river was purely undrinkable. But… maybe he could purify it?

He shrugged. It was worth a shot. All he'd have to do is coax the water away from the filth. "Easy enough," he muttered dryly to himself. Unscrewing the cap of the canteen – which was secured to the canteen by a smaller leather strap – he took a firm stance. He found it easier to concentrate if he closed his eyes, visualizing first what he wanted to happen. As he slowly did a dragging motion with his hands, he imagined the water molecules detaching from the dirt particles and flying in the direction he was pulling.

As he steadied his breathing, something seemed to… settle in his soul. Suddenly, at the back of his eyelids, a line of glowing pale blue light streaked across the blackness. It was the shape of the river! He paused, confused and intrigued. Soon, he could make out fainter glows that formed the shape of his hands and arms, and even the trees around him. What… was this? He forced his breathing to stay at its slow, steady pace. There was a break on the line, probably the water he had pulled up. It was brighter than the line that was the shape of the river.

He shuddered as his heart sped up excitedly. But as soon as he lost his breath, the light faded. He opened his eyes again to stare at the filthy river. A section of it, now pure water, was paused in mid-action of worming towards him. Blinking confusedly, but still requiring the water, he completed his action of filling the canteen with the now-pure water. He had no doubts that it was clean. He didn't even know _how_ he knew, but he knew.

The hair on the back of his neck prickled, and he whirled around to see Yue. She wasn't transparent, like how she had appeared in the mortal world. Anger rushed through his veins greedily. "What the hell!" he shouted. "What did you do to me!?"

She seemed unhappy already, and his shouting only made her look guiltier. "It's necessary, Seto," she said. "You need to be able to save your world and help Aang, but you can't do it if you're still a novice at Waterbending."

"Well, tell me where I am," Kaiba snarled.

"You are in a special part of the Spirit World that I and the others created together by merging some strands of the Shadow Realm of your world for the purpose of training you and the other Benders. Now, normally, anyone who can Bend cannot Bend in the Spirit World, but you four are unusual cases."

He eyed her suspiciously. "What do you mean by that?" Curiosity was winning over his anger.

"Most Benders' powers are attached to their physical form. But in order to give you bending to protect your world, your Waterbending abilities were attached to your soul. Meaning that you can use Waterbending in this world. However, it also means that you have increased susceptibility to actually dying in the Spirit World.

"Wait, what happens if that occurs!" Kaiba cried.

"I leave you to the training field," Yue concluded, and she faded away.

A screech that sounded like a bird of prey called behind him as soon as Yue was gone. Wide-eyed, Kaiba spun to see what appeared to be a Whiptail Crow monster – a red leathery demonic creature with wings with a thick tail – flying towards him at high speeds. Acting quickly, he slid his feet apart to a firm stance and pulled a large amount of water from the river and quickly froze it into a misshapen, dark shield. But the Whiptail Crow crashed through it easily, and as thick brown ice shards fell around him, the Whiptail Crow dug its claws into his shoulders. With a sickening jolt, Kaiba was wrenched off of the ground. He struggled against the talons in vain.

How was he going to get out of this alive?

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed.**


	14. Mud

**Phew! Oh, when was the last time I updated this story? I dunno. I don't think it's THAT long ago... Well, I just got back today from a four-day field trip. That was fun... and now I have a few more ideas for this story. So... yippee.

* * *

**Valon stared wide eyed at the now-unconscious body of the CEO. He had suddenly shot up from the couch, clutching his head and shouting "What are you doing to me?" He was worried. He could guess what had happened to Kaiba, and judging by the rate of recent things, he was next. Mokuba had also rushed into the kitchen, and the black-haired boy now hurried over to where his big brother slumped.

"Ah, Seto!" he cried. "What happened?"

"He was proven right…" Anzu whispered. She was staring wide-eyed at her clasped hands in her lap.

"What do you mean by that!?" Mokuba demanded. "I'm getting sick and tired of all this!"

Rebecca sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Basically, the four godforsaken spirits promised that they would put us in a sort of arena. I guess this is their way of doing it. Sending us to the Spirit World while our bodies lie in comas. This can't be good for our health," she added dryly.

Valon's heart was thumping hard in his throat. When was it going to happen to him? He almost wished that Kyoshi would appear and make it happen so that he could get it over with. That was better than all this tension.

Aang seemed to ponder Rebecca's statement. "But I thought you couldn't Bend in the Spirit World?" No one had an answer to that.

Toph, who had entered with Mokuba, pointed at Valon. "Dude, why are you so nervous?" He jumped.

"Wh-what?" he stuttered. Toph seemed to say something, but suddenly, he couldn't hear it. His eyes widened as all sounds fell away. There was a strange pulsation in the air, and sight fell away too, revealing Avatar Kyoshi. White hot pain shot through his head, and he clutched it with both hands pressing at his temples.

"Young Earthbender," she said, "it is time."

"Wait!" he cried, shooting up from his chair. "No! What–?"

Kyoshi didn't say another word, and as the pain in his head increased, Valon blacked out.

* * *

Valon opened his eyes. He blinked, confused. He waved a hand in front of his eyes. Nothing but blackness.

He shot up from his position on the ground, breathing heavily. He looked every which way, but he was greeted only by the deep permeating darkness. Was he blind? Or was he just in a dark place? He couldn't tell. He felt the ground with his hands, and it seemed to be dirt. He shifted to his knees and crawled in a random direction, reaching out a hand before moving forward. A few moments later and his hand met a wall of similar texture to the ground. Most likely, he was in a cave. Using the wall as support, he slowly got to his feet. Not too fast, in case there was a low ceiling. Luckily, his head didn't even brush against any kind of roof.

And then Kyoshi was there. She faded into his vision. It was kind of odd, seeing her there. She didn't give off light, but he could see her perfectly. It was like a poor Photoshop job in which someone pasted the picture of a person on a black background. Valon gritted his teeth.

"What the hell!" he snapped at her. "You couldn't have dropped me in a better place?"

"This is necessary for your training," was her simple answer.

"What _training_!" Valon cried in frustration. "This is the Spirit World! I can't Earthbend _here_!"

Kyoshi shook her head. "No, Valon, you four are unique cases. You see, normally, a human's Bending is attached to their physical body. But in order for us to grant you Bending, we had to bind it to your soul. So, you can Bend in this world."

Valon raised an eyebrow at her. "Uh huh. But there's one thing I don't get. If Aang and the others were entering our world anyway, why do you need us to fend off demons?"

"Valon, you four were specifically chosen for this task. We didn't know that Aang and his friends were traversing worlds when the decision was made, and besides that, only you four can destroy the demons."

"You're making no sense. That guy Zuko killed one."

"That was a low level demon. An unremarkable person could kill it with a torch. I wouldn't expect any more of those low level demons. And besides that, we need you to teach Aang."

Valon frowned now. "Teach him?" he clarified. "Are you joking? I can barely move a pebble around."

"You four will bring new light to the art of Bending, something that no one from our world could ever figure out. They are constrained by their traditional teaching methods."

Valon wanted more explanations, but then Kyoshi added, "My time is short. Before I leave, I must tell you. You are more connected to the earth than you know. You will be able to feel her trembles. Find your way out of the cave this way." As he watched, she faded away into the darkness, leaving her silhouette burned on his retinas just briefly.

Valon sighed. "This sucks," he said softly. It seemed inappropriate all of a sudden to be loud. It was too quiet. But what did she mean by her last words? Connected to the earth? Feeling her trembles?

But wait. He remembered hearing Kaiba's secretary scream when the CEO had been possessed. He had been on the ground floor, and no one else had heard it. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't really _heard_ it. More like he felt slight vibrations and his ears interpreted it. And then there was the moment before the corpse demons ripped their way out of the ground. It had felt almost like a small earthquake to him, and also apparently to the blind girl Toph. No one else had felt it but him, the _Earthbender_.

He had an idea!

He leaned down and took off his shoes. From touch, he realized that he wasn't wearing his normal shoes. It was the black ones from the outfit that had appeared on him after he synced with the stone. So that must mean he was wearing the rest of his outfit. He shrugged. He didn't care that much right now. He took of the shoes and tossed them indifferently aside. He wouldn't need them. The ground was still motionless to his senses. It was eerie, but he shrugged it off and started walking, using the wall as a guideline.

After a long while of blind walking, the wall fell away. Confused, Valon swept his hand out in front of him before realizing that he was at a corner. He frowned, his brows knitting together. So there was a turn? How many other turns had he bypassed? Or was this really a forked path? There was no way of telling.

But suddenly, the ground trembled underneath his bare feet. His breathing quickened and he licked his lips, now becoming salty with sweat. What was coming? As the shaking steadily increased, he knew whatever it was, it wasn't human. He squinted through the darkness. Damn it! Why couldn't he see! The vibrations were almost like a roar in his ears. He quickly pressed his back to the stone wall as something massive rushed by with a gale in its wake.

He took a deep breath. Well, if he couldn't see with his eyes, he'd have to see with his feet. He forced himself to relax, breathing deeply in through his nose, out through his mouth. He closed his eyes, even though the darkness never changed. The vibrations lengthened, as if whatever it was skidded to a stop. Then, the ground stilled, but he could feel it breathing. It was short and shallow, but it made the walls quiver almost imperceptibly beneath his fingertips.

A bigger shudder. The creature took a step.

The quakes threatened to overwhelm Valon. He forced his knees to stop shaking and focused on the vibrations. Whatever that creature was, it was huge, almost filling the cave. He heard a strange noise that sounded like a rapid clacking of a pen against a desk. Suddenly, something furry brushed his face. Valon leaped back, choking down a shout of surprise. What was it, and insect?

The noise again. Another shudder.

Time to act. He was _not_ going to get eaten by a giant bug.

Taking in another breath through his nose, he forced himself to calm down. He slid his foot back and clenched his fists tightly. He thrust one fist up in an uppercut – there was a great tremor and a loud sound as earth shot up. Then, he swung his back foot forward, kicking the earth towards the creature. This was followed by a screech from the creature, a deafening noise that made his teeth rattle. The ground shivered as the creature rushed towards him. Not thinking, only reacting, Valon punched both fists straight up. There was a thunderous groaning and a sickening crunch. Breathing hard, he blindly reached in front of him to find a new wall. Something gooey and slimy dripped on his hand, and he jerked away, shaking it off as much as he could.

He sighed and turned his back to the crushed creature. Time to find his way out of here.

* * *

**Hmm. It's an okay chapter, in my opinion. Hope you enjoyed! (please review)**

**Cheers!  
**


	15. Sun

**Ah, this chapter has been sitting in my computer for a while, unfinished. So I quickly wrote something and... yeah. Here ya go.

* * *

**Anzu stared at the now-unconscious form of Valon. That was two down, and she was next. Toph had been talking to him. Right when she was saying "I can feel your nervousness!" he had cried out and collapsed. Anzu gulped. When would it be her turn?

She jumped when her cell phone rang. She withdrew it from her pocket and flipped it open. "Hello?"

"_Ah, hello, Anzu!"_ It was Yugi. _"Zuko hasn't killed me yet, haha. I've got Zuko to grudgingly leave his uncle with my grandpa at the hospital, and we're headed over. Are you guys still at my house?"_

"No," Anzu quickly replied. "We're at Kaiba's house." She heard Yugi let out a sound of surprise. "Yeah, I know, but the game shop was becoming a bit crowded. Listen, you need to get over here quickly. Kaiba and Valon are unconscious. The spirits are sending us to some training ground."

"_I see. I'll get there as fast as possible."_ There was some shuffling, and Yugi hung up. She closed her phone with a snap.

"Yugi's on his way here, as is the other guy. Zuko, was his name?"

Katara visibly darkened. "Why does he have to come here, anyway?"

"He doesn't seem so bad, in my opinion," Mokuba said meekly from his position next to his comatose big brother.

"Well, you have no idea what he's done," she snapped back. Anzu stood up.

"Don't yell at him," the female Firebender hissed.

"He's tried to kill us on numerous occasions!" Katara ranted. "This boy has no idea what we've been through!"

Now it was Mokuba's turn to get angry. "Yeah? You have no idea what any of us have been through either!" He rose up from the couch, glaring at Katara. He was a little bit shorter than her, but he might as well have been towering over her. "If you can't let this guy stay at _my_ house with you for a while, then I'll have to throw you out!"

Suddenly, Anzu was dizzy, and she clutched her head. "Ohh," she moaned. All eyes turned towards her. Her head started throbbing, and she pressed her hands against it hard. "Guys, I think–" She stopped.

There, in front of her, was Roku. She gasped and tried to step back, but ended up falling back into her chair. "It is time," the old Avatar said. The world faded to white, and she went limp.

* * *

Anzu snapped her eyes open, staring into a sky lit by an intense sun. Blinking hard a couple times, she pushed herself into a sitting position and looked around. It seemed that she was in some sort of desert, with sand stretching for miles around her. Although, in the far distance, she could see some mountains, peaks stretching high into the sky. She ran fingers through her hair in an effort to get sand out, and realized that her outfit had changed. It was replaced by the black and white one that had appeared on her after syncing with the stone. Groaning, she stood up, also noticing how, though the sun should be hot, it wasn't. There didn't seem to be any temperature at all.

"The Spirit World," she muttered.

As she stared in front of her, Roku faded into her line of sight. "Hello, Anzu," he said cordially.

Anzu frowned. "Is that any way to greet the person you basically just kidnapped?"

Roku grinned a little. "You may not like it now, but you'll thank us later. You'll be back in your body before the human day is up. It may feel like a long time here, but it is just a short while in real life."

"What's the point of this? I can't bend in the Spirit World."

"No, you can. You four are unique cases. Usually, the bending powers are attached to the body, but in order to grant you bending, your powers were attached to your soul. So where your soul goes, your bending goes."

"Makes sense… I guess…"

"My time is short," Roku finished. "I must leave you here now." He started to fade. "Just remember what I told you about Firebending and your breath." And he was gone. Just like that. Like he had never been there.

Anzu ran fingers through her hair again, this time in frustration, and blew air through her mouth. What was she going to do now? At least, as a soul, she didn't need food or drink. She sighed and started marching towards the mountains in the distance.

A loud screech behind her made her halt. She spun around and squinted up to see what looked like a Whiptail Crow monster gliding towards her at high speeds. She turned and started running for the mountains, but as the shadow fell over her, she ducked. However, while ducking, she lost her footing and was sent sprawling into the sand. Spitting out the disgusting powdered rocks, she tried to get back to her feet. She was starting to hyperventilate, making her head spin. The Whiptail Crow circled back and dove for her again. Without thinking, she thrust out her hand in an attempt to chuck a fireball at it.

Searing heat washed over her skin, and she and the monster screamed at the same time. The fire she summoned backfired, causing not a neat fireball, but an explosion. The sand around her rocketed up, covering her even more. And in a flash, it was over, and the Whiptail Crow was flying off, wounded. Her hand stung painfully. It was burned.

Anzu struggled to her feet, trying to regain her breath and cradling her hand. So that is what Roku meant about her breath. Without it, she loses control…

A new wave of fear choked her. What if she couldn't control her bending?

No, she wouldn't think about that now. She started determinately at the mountains and marched off again. First, she would find the others. Then she would worry about her bending.

* * *

**Ah, it feels really short. Oh well. I guess I'm too eager to get back to Kaiba's chapter... But I can't break my order, because I have to send Rebecca into the Spirit World next. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!**

***cough* okay. Please review, anyhoo. :3  
**


	16. Updraft

Everyone in the room was silent. The argument that had been building between Mokuba and Katara was forgotten as they stared at Anzu's now-unconscious body. As they watched, her hand twitched and turned red, as if it was burned.

"What's happening to her?" Aang asked worriedly.

"I hate going last…" Rebecca muttered, but she was ignored.

Katara stepped over to Anzu's body and bent some water out of her pouch. She held it over her hands until it started glowing and put it to Anzu's red skin. Soon after, she pulled away and frowned. "It's not doing anything…"

"Maybe when she wakes up," Sokka suggested.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, and everyone jumped. "I'll get it," offered Mokuba. "It's probably Yugi."

Rebecca's vision at that moment went fuzzy. Weakness flooded her, and her knees gave out, forcing her to slump into an armchair. "Ohhh…" she groaned. Monk Gyatso faded into her vision.

"It's time," he said. And then Rebecca fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

Rebecca slowly opened her eyes and thought she was falling before she realized that she was firmly on a rock. She was on her stomach looking far down to what looked like a sandy desert. Did I mention it was high up? Taking a gulp of air, she slowly pushed herself onto her knees and got a better look at her surroundings. She was on a flat outcrop of rock cut into the side of a tall, sheer mountain that disappeared into clouds above. The clouds themselves seemed really close, but it was hard to judge their distance. Looking down, the ground was quite a distance away, and it didn't look like an easy climb down.

"What the hell," she scowled. "What does he expect me to do?"

"Greetings, Rebecca," said a voice behind her. She whirled around to face Gyatso.

"Hello, Gyatso," she said, "get me out of here."

"This is a part of your training," he told her. "Take this." He tossed a long wooden staff.

"I can't use this!" Rebecca said angrily. "And besides that, I can't bend here! It's the Spirit World!"

"Wrong," Gyatso said. "Your bending abilities are connected to your soul, rather than to your body like most Benders. And that there is what we call a Glider. It will open up, and you can use Airbending to glide."

Curious, Rebecca hit the staff on the rock. Wings sprang from near the top, and a tail fan opened up at the bottom. "Gee," she said flatly, "that's great. I still have no idea how to use it."

"My time is up," Gyatso said. "Happy training." He started to disappear, but before he was gone, he reached out and pushed Rebecca.

"Hey– HEY!" she shouted, stumbling back and losing her balance. She screamed as she toppled over the edge. She held on to the Glider for dear life. The ground was rising up to meet her at an astonishing rate. She tried to take a deep breath, but the wind tore it from her mouth. Finally, she scowled. She wasn't going to die here. She was going to do something about it. She grabbed the wings' frames where it was thickest and leveled her body so that it was parallel to the staff.

Soon, the wind caught the fans that were the wings and pushed her up. She was… she was flying! _Well, okay, maybe not flying_, she thought, _but gliding at the very least for an indefinite amount of time. _She looked down at the sand and squinted. Was that tiny dark shape a human, headed towards the mountain? If it was human, it had to be one of her three fellow benders! Rebecca grinned. So she wouldn't be alone…

She glided down to the sand. When she got close, she braked by throwing her legs forward so that she was almost perpendicular to the staff. Soon, her speed slowed enough for her to put her feet down, and she closed her Glider and dropped. She could see now that the human figure was none other than Anzu. For once (and it doesn't happen often), she was happy to see the brunette.

"Rebecca!" Anzu cried breathlessly. "Thank God! I was all alone…" She showed Rebecca her burned hand. "I stupidly burned myself…"

Rebecca thought back to the human world, when Anzu's hand had suddenly turned red. "Wait a minute…" she mused. "We saw that, in the physical world. Your hand turned red like it was burned."

"What?" gasped Anzu. "So that means that what happens here happens to our real bodies."

"That is to be assumed," Rebecca confirmed.

"So… uh, what'cha got there?"

Rebecca held the staff in front of her. "Old man Gyatso threw it at me and pushed me off a cliff. He called it a Glider."

"That's cool," Anzu said. She looked at the mountain. "Anyway… we should find the others, obviously. But I don't even know where to start. I only headed towards the mountain because it was the only distinguishable landmark."

Rebecca shrugged. "I started on top of it," she said. "I have as many ideas you do."

They didn't have to stand around and guess for long, however. There was a crashing sound as rock was blasted away. Rebecca whirled around to see that there was now a gaping hole in the side of the mountain. In it stood a fatigued-looking Valon with his fist outstretched.

"Anzu!" he exclaimed, clearly surprised. "Rebecca! What a coincidence."

"A lucky coincidence," Rebecca said. And then, "Wait, do you know where Kaiba is? Like, is he with you or something?"

Valon looked at her strangely and frowned. "No, I've been alone this entire time. Of course, I did squash a giant bug in there," he added, jabbing his thumb into the darkness behind him, "but that's it.

"How could you see in there?" Anzu queried.

Valon grinned. "I couldn't." He pointed at his bare feet. "Apparently, since I can Earthbend, I can sense vibrations in the ground."

Rebecca noticed Anzu slump a little. "Oh," she said, her voice dark. "That's great." The young blonde found this curious, but thinking about it made more sense. Perhaps Anzu was feeling left out. After all, Rebecca received a Glider, and Valon had an extra ability that came from his bending, whereas Anzu only seemed to get grief. However, Rebecca decided not to press. If Anzu wanted to brood, she would let her brood. It was none of her business.

"I suppose we should look for Kaiba," Rebecca said. "The mountain is a good place to start, seeing as we all met up at it. Keep an eye out for demons and other monsters, because they're around here somewhere." As an afterthought, to herself she added, "That Kaiba, he's been getting into a lot of trouble ever since we first started Bending…"

* * *

**BLAAAAAARG! All of my chapters are turning out short. -.- This is starting to annoy even me. Oh well, at least it's a relatively fast update...**

**Just a word of warning: As you read, you might be mixing up Kaiba's and Katara's names. I was worried this might happen. They do look sort of similar on paper. So just read sort of carefully.**

**So who's excited for The Last Airbender movie? I'm psyched! **

**One last thing: There's a poll on my profile that concerns this story. It's been up for a while, but only one person has voted. It's about who would win in a fight: Valon, Kaiba, Rebecca, or Anzu? Just curious.  
**


	17. Drowning

**Sorry I've been gone for so long! I've been wanting to update this story, but I haven't had any ideas... So here! Cheers and enjoy!

* * *

**Kaiba sat with his back resting against the stone mountain in the large nest, his arms crossed as he stared down four Whiptail Crow chicks (or at least, that's what he was calling the red leathery birds, because lets face it, they look a lot like the Whiptail Crow). They were keeping their distance for now, but they were snapping at him hungrily. Soon, Mama Whiptail Crow would come back, rip him to pieces, and feed him to her chicks. Wonderful.

His shoulders ached, but luckily the Whiptail Crow didn't actually pierce his skin when it grabbed him. He supposed he was lucky in that case, but his current situation was anything but fortunate. However, he _did_ notice that he didn't seem to need any nourishment, so he didn't have to drink any of the water in his canteen. Perhaps it was because he was not actually of this world, for obviously these creatures needed nourishment…

One of the chicks ventured too close with its snapping beak, and Kaiba reacted. He kicked out his foot, pushing the chick almost to the edge of the large nest. It started squawking like mad, its noises ringing out loud and clear. Kaiba cringed. Oops. He stood up, twisting off the cap of his canteen. The Mama Crow should be coming back… yes! There. Hearing her chick's cry, the Whiptail Crow was flying towards him at high speeds.

Kaiba thought quickly. What was he going to do? It wasn't like he knew any fighting moves using Waterbending. But… maybe it didn't have to be too complex. Kaiba bent the water out of the canteen before curling the water around his right arm. He froze it there, making a sharp point sticking out over his fist. And then he braced himself.

The Whiptail Crow landed at the edge of the nest, spreading its wings and flapping them hard. It screeched as if to say "HOW DARE YOU HURT MY CHICK!" It lifted off again and reached for him with its talons. Kaiba rolled to the side, careful to keep a distance from the chicks, too. The Crow twisted around, snapping at him with its big beak. Kaiba clenched his fist, prayed to… something, and thrust his fist forward.

Pain erupted along his forearm, but he felt the ice spike make contact, and the Crow screeched again, this time in pain. He had gotten it in the chest, and it pulled back, hunching over. Kaiba stumbled back also. The Crow had gotten his arm, and it was bleeding. A lot. He pressed his arm to it. The chicks now grew angry that he fatally injured their parent. They approached him now, all four of them.

Kaiba melted the ice off of his arm and slashed the water forward. The mediocre attempt at something like a whip only pushed the chicks back, but with only one good arm, he didn't want to fight four monsters, even if they were babies. He looked back to peer over the edge of the nest. The ground seemed so far away…

One chick nipped at his heel, and he jerked his foot back. No time to decide. He jumped back.

As he fell, he grabbed the edge of the nest with his hands. His forearm screamed in protest, but he would worry about that later. Viewing his surroundings quickly, he noticed a spindly tree growing out of the side of the mountain some ways down. Still swinging with forward momentum, he let go of the nest, dropping down… down… until the tree rushed up to meet him. He overshot a little, however, slamming into the tree at chest level. The wind flew out of him, but he grabbed on and held on.

He heard a snapping sound, and his gut tightened. He'd been afraid of this. The tree was not strong enough to hold his weight plus his momentum. He quickly scoured the mountainside. He was still too high up to survive the fall without injury. Before the tree could completely crack in half, he slid down and swung himself towards the mountain. He slid for a few terrifying seconds before his hand grabbed an indent deep enough for him to hold on to. The jerk nearly dislocated his shoulder. He held on for a few moments, catching his breath and glancing up. He had come a long way…

He could feel the warm blood trickling down his arm, and he shivered. Looking down, he let go of his handhold.

The mountain had slowly started to level out, so he slid for some meters before he noticed himself slowing down. As he reached the flat ground below, he stumbled, falling to the dirt. This bit of ground was actually between two protrusions of the mountain that reached out like the roots of a tree, hiding him from sight. He groaned. His hands now burned from his trek down the mountain, he was quivering from nearly dying, and his right forearm smarted and hurt like hell. He forced himself to sit up and get a good look at his arm.

The wound was deep, bleeding profusely. It was curved and jagged, and it was on almost all of his forearm. He cursed. What was he going to do now? Without any better ideas, he bent the water from his canteen again and made a sort of gauntlet on his arm, freezing it in place. The ice helped the pain a little, and also helped to stop the flow of blood. Though, it did start turning a nasty shade of red…

"Kaiba!" a voice called. It sounded like Valon… He looked up to see Valon, Anzu, and Rebecca clambering over the rocks. "We found you, finally!" Valon said breathlessly as he came up to Kaiba. He noticed the CEO's arm. "Your arm! What happened?"

"Attacked by Whiptail Crows," Kaiba replied dryly. "Not to mention that my only means of escape was going down the mountainside from up there." He pointed upwards with his good hand (his left hand), and the other three craned their necks. However, when they couldn't really see anything, they took his word for it and returned to earth.

Anzu showed him her burned hand. "I got attacked too, though my injury was self-inflicted. It was probably the same creature."

Kaiba snorted. "Yeah, you would hurt yourself," he muttered.

"What was that!" she snapped.

"Nothing," he said in a voice that clearly implied otherwise. She glared at him, but Rebecca cut in.

"Hey, so what are we supposed to do now?" she asked the group. "We found each other. Big whoop. That's not why we're here. We're here because we currently suck at bending and we need to get better."

"Rebecca has a point," Valon admitted. "So. What. Do we go hunt monsters?" he suggested jokingly.

Kaiba gestured to his injured arm. "Uh, hello, not going to be doing much practicing here," he pointed out.

"Well sucks for you!" Anzu said harshly, still upset about his reaction to her burn.

Rebecca laughed. "Yeah, you're probably better at fighting anyway." Kaiba's lip twitched at that, for some reason, but didn't say anything.

"Rebecca, you're probably the better Bender right now, though," Anzu said. The young blonde merely shrugged.

"Guys, wait," Valon suddenly said. He closed his eyes and pointed to the rocks opposite the ones they climbed over. "Something's coming." He paused. "Scratch that, multiple somethings are coming!"

Kaiba stared at him incredulously as he stood up. "What is he talking about," he started to say. However the clatter of feet made him turn around. They watched and waited in high anticipation. The first one made it over the top, and they got their first good look at it.

Kaiba's first impression was that it was human, too. But a more careful look revealed that its feet were hooves like a horse's, and it had a tail like a cow's. Its skin was black and mottled, like lava rock. Its hands were large, and had four fingers where a human has five, and they were more like talons than fingers. The creature wore clothes that resembled a black U.S. military uniform, and a helmet with a visor that covered its faces. However, there were two holes in the helmet that allowed large deer-like antlers to protrude. As more climbed over the rocks, the four Benders could see that its antlers were bigger than the rest, possibly denoting leadership.

Crowds of the creatures swarmed around the rocks, penning them in. The four of them slowly backed up, forced against the almost sheer mountainside. "What're we gonna do?" Anzu asked in a small voice.

Suddenly, the rock wall behind them fell open, a section of it sliding into the ground. "In here!" a voice called, and they ducked inside, figuring their chances were better in there than facing the multitudes of creatures out. The wall of rock slid up again, plunging them momentarily into darkness. But then torches sprung to life along the side of the tunnel, reaching far off into the darkness.

There was a boy, about fifteen or sixteen, with wide green eyes, light messy brown hair, deathly pale skin, and a black outfit similar to Kaiba's and Valon's. He smiled at them, holding a lit torch. A canteen like Kaiba's was slung around his shoulder. "Hey. My name's Daisuke."

"Thank god!" Anzu breathed. "Another person!"

Daisuke shrugged. "I'm a spirit, actually. I was born here. Oh, you're injured…" He opened his canteen, using one hand to bend water out of it. He bent it around his hands, where it started glowing. "Please, give me your hand and your arm," he said to Kaiba and Anzu. The two of them reluctantly offered them. In turn, Daisuke placed his hand on their wounds. Anzu's burn fizzled away, and Kaiba's cut sealed almost magically.

Anzu rubbed her hand. "Thanks a lot, Daisuke!"

Kaiba studied his arm. "Not a scar or anything…" He looked up. "What are you?"

Daisuke's eyes glinted, and they flashed golden orange. "I told you. I'm a spirit." Suddenly, he grinned widely, sinisterly, evilly… "Welcome to my game." The four of them gasped.

"We should have known!" Rebecca snapped, stomping her foot. "You were too good to be true! We can't trust _anyone_ in here."

Daisuke tossed the torch to Valon, who instinctively caught it. In the distraction, the spirit thrust out both hands. Two strings of light shot from each hand, each a different color – blue, green, red, and orange – and entered a Bender's body. There was a bright light that erupted from each person. Kaiba felt his energy deplete like the way a tipped water bottle spills its liquid, and it was only the strange string of light that kept him up. Daisuke slowly pulled away, and then the light was gone. All four of them collapsed to the dirt ground. Kaiba craned his neck to look at Daisuke, whose eyes were shining golden orange. In his hands he held four different colored orbs, and in each orb was the Japanese kanji for one of the four elements, hovering.

Daisuke smirked. "Find these four orbs, and you win. One will be held by each of the four nymphs, hidden in a room in the mountain. But beware; there are many traps and puzzles to be solved." He stepped away, towards the rock wall.

"Wait!" Kaiba cried weakly, but it was too late. Daisuke melted into the wall like it was made of liquid. In a surge of adrenaline, the Waterbender leapt to his feet, lurching for the wall. But Daisuke had disappeared, and the wall was as hard as ever. He sunk to the ground, panting heavily. He felt drained, weak, exhausted, lifeless, almost dead. He looked at his three fellow travelers, who were in similar shape. "What the hell did he do to us?" he asked.

No one answered.

* * *

**Thank you God of Zero Thousand for suggesting games, as in Death-T! I was bound to think of it, but it was slow coming. ^.^ Thanks a lot! **

**What happened to them will be a mystery forever… No, not really. You'll find out, don't worry. Hope you enjoyed!**

**...Has anyone noticed that most of my monsters/demons are made up on the spot...? No? Never mind then. XD  
**


	18. Suffocating

**Oh my gosh! Over 100 reviews. I'm touched, you guys! Thanks a lot! I got so excited I just had to update again.**

**My updating patterns are so random...

* * *

**They laid there for a long time. Valon had no idea how long, but it felt like hours. At one point, he actually fell asleep. Finally, they could all stand up weakly, using the wall as support. Kaiba turned to Valon and stated plainly, "Bend open the mountain so we can leave."

"Good idea," Valon said dryly. "Why didn't I think of that?" He turned around and stopped. Confused, he reached out a hand tentatively. It met with air, even when he walked forward. The torch-lit darkness stretched forward and backwards for infinity. "Wait, it's not here anymore."

"What are you talking about?" Rebecca asked incredulously. She, too, walked up next to Valon and stretched out her hand. She frowned and walked farther down the path. She turned back and faced them. "He's right. We must have been moved."

"That's not possible!" Kaiba claimed. "I never fell asleep."

"It's the spirit world," Anzu pointed out. "Anything could happen. It just disappeared when we weren't paying attention."

Valon merely shrugged. "I can't say, because I'm pretty sure I fell asleep, even if Kaiba says he didn't. So I say let's explore. If Daisuke wants to play a game, we'll have to play it with him. Or so it seems, at least."

With no other ideas possible (other than blasting through the mountain with Valon's bending, but that wouldn't work for multiple reasons), the other three agreed, and they started walking in the direction opposite where the entrance had been. As they trekked, Valon paid attention to the rumbles in the ground that resulted from their footsteps. And so, when a new rumble appeared, he sensed it immediately.

"Wait," he said, stopped. The others halted their footsteps, too, and stood still. "I feel something…"

Kaiba frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

Valon almost smacked himself. "Oh! I didn't tell you guys. I can feel vibrations in the earth. Sorry. Well, I feel something now." Suddenly, he pointed to the wall at his right. "There." He went up to it and smacked his hand against it, closing his eyes to feel the vibrations. "There's a room on the other side of the wall."

"Well, knock it open," Rebecca ordered, clearly frustrated with all the stuff that was going on. "It's probably the first part of this game of Daisuke's."

Anzu shuddered. "Game… Reminds me of Death-T, this whole thing does." She glanced at Kaiba, for some reason unknown to Valon, with a hard look in her eyes. "Doesn't it, Kaiba?"

Kaiba visibly stiffened and didn't say anything.

"What's Death-T?" Rebecca asked. Anzu shook her head, however, and refused to go into detail. Valon let it go, seeing as he was needed to get into the first room. He faced the wall and punched both fists forward, denting the rock. Then he heaved up, taking the rock with his fists. The rock shot up, forming a crude entryway into a dark room. And seeing as there was no where else to go, the four of them entered.

All at once, the rock wall slid back down quickly, slamming into the ground with a hard smack. They all jumped, turned around as they were thrown into pitch blackness. After a few seconds, however, a light snapped on above, lighting the entire room in a dim lighting similar to the tunnel outside the room. For a moment, Valon thought the room was endless, reaching on into infinity much like the tunnel seemed to. After a minute of looking at his own face, however, he realized that it was a room of mirrors. It was a square room, and each wall was completely covered with mirrors. The ceiling was no where to be seen, stretching up into darkness. Even the floor was covered. There were many, many copies of themselves.

Anzu walked up to one and reached out, lightly touching her fingers to the reflective surface. "This is creepy," she said with a slight quiver in her voice.

"Tell me about it," Valon said. "It's worse than a carnival! All we're missing is evil clowns with bloody axes." He too approached a wall of mirrors. All of them did.

"Now's not the time for jokes like that," Rebecca said in an extra harsh voice, revealing that she too was a little scared.

"Hello all," said a voice from the center of the room. They whirled around to see Daisuke, his eyes glowing orange. He cast no reflection. "Welcome to the first game. I like to call it Regret Reflections." He laughed. "Clever, no?" He waited in the awkward silence that followed before continuing. "If you win, the mirrors will shatter and reveal the next path. You'll need to face the mirrors. Game start!" He sunk into the ground quickly, like it wasn't even there.

"Hey! Come back!" Rebecca shouted angrily.

"Let's just play his little game," Anzu said shakingly, turning to the mirror. "Once we get through it, we can move on."

Rebecca harrumphed and turned back to her reflection, and Valon and Kaiba did the same grudgingly. Valon stared into his own gray eyes and waited for something to happen. Just when he was growing bored, his reflection blinked at him.

"Huh?" He stared as his reflection grinned sinisterly.

"You could have saved her," the reflection whispered. Valon froze, his surprise and bewilderment replaced by dread and guilt. The voice weighed heavily on him; it curled around him and slipped inside his ears like an evil serpent. "The fire. You could have saved her. Why didn't you try? Why didn't you do something about the fire?"

Valon began to stutter. He was dimly aware of the others starting to make noises, too, but his focus on his reflection seemed to block out all other sounds. "B-but… the fire w-was too big. I-I would have gotten killed t-too."

"You know you wouldn't have," said the reflection. "You know you could have gotten in and out, no problem. You could have saved her."

Valon clutched his head as flashbacks bombarded him. He could have saved her, the nun that took care of him when he was younger. Why didn't he? It would have been so easy. Just in and out. The fire wasn't so big. He was strong… but wait. "No," he said, more firmly now. The reflection looked shocked, and took a hesitant step back. "I was too late. And I feel bad about it, but there was nothing I could have done. She would have already been dead when I got there. If not burned, then suffocated." His voice grew firmer the more he talked. "I regret nothing, because I did all I could." Suddenly, the reflection screamed. The mirror cracked and shattered, revealing rock wall behind it.

Valon let out a sigh, and turned around. The others were starting to mumble. Anzu was shaking her head. "It doesn't matter what others think of me," she was saying decisively. "Yugi knows me, and he is a true friend. And I know that what I'm doing is right." Her reflection screamed and shattered also. She turned around and gave a relieved smile at Valon. "Easy-peasy," she said weakly. She was shaking a little.

Rebecca had a little bit more of a problem. Her reflection was calling her bratty, claiming that no one liked her. But she turned it around and said, "I've changed. I have real friends now, and I'm smarter. Yugi taught me my lesson." The mirror she was facing shattered as well. She turned to face them, but then looked at Kaiba with a worried look.

Kaiba was having a lot of trouble. He clutched his head, his fingers tangling in his hair. His eyes squeezed shut and he hunched over as if in pain. "No…" he moaned.

"You killed him," his reflection whispered. "You killed him so that you could have power. You tried to kill Yugi and his friends simply because he beat you in a card game. You're greedy. You're a jerk, and you're mean. Nobody likes you. Even Mokuba is losing faith in you, losing faith that you'll ever get better, friendlier. Remember Battle City? He spoke out at you. He's never done that before. Everyone hates you. You are alone, alone, all alone. And the worst part is? You know it's true."

"It's… not true," Kaiba tried to gasp out. He fell to his knees.

The reflection of the CEO grew louder, and smirked. "You know it to be true! Deep inside your heart, you know it is! No one else knows what it is like to kill a man. They can't help you. You killed him, and what was it all for? Some money, some wealth. Tell me that's not greedy. Come on. Tell me." The reflection paused. "You can't. You're a horrible person, Seto Kaiba, and you're incapable of human emotion."

Anzu actually cringed. Hadn't at one point she had said something similar to him? Her heart grew heavy. "Kaiba…" she whispered. Valon clenched his fists. They had to do something! Anything! But what?

The reflection began to laugh, and it reached out a hand. It touched the mirror as though from the other side, like it was a window. The mirror started to ripple, and the hand went through it. The reflection reached out, out of its former boundaries, towards Kaiba. It grasped one of Kaiba's hands, and the waterbender made no move to resist. The reflection was pulling him back towards the mirror! His hand touched the mirror and started to sink in.

Valon reacted. "NO!" he shouted, suddenly grabbing Kaiba around his middle. He pulled, but the reflection had a tight grip. Anzu and Rebecca caught on and latched on, helping Valon pull away. "Kaiba!" he spoke, his voice ringing out. "You're not alone! Feel our arms and realize the truth."

"We're your friends!" Anzu continued. "I'm sorry for every harsh word I've said to you. I… We're here to help."

Rebecca joined in, too. "Yes, there are times when you're a jerk. I've never liked you that much, to be honest, but I've seen you help others. I've seen you be noble. Deep down inside is not a monster, but a knight!"

Suddenly, the reflection screamed an ear-piercing scream. With one last heave, the trio pulled Kaiba back. The force knocked them all down, sending them sprawling. The mirror's surface rippled before shattering completely into a fine powder. They slowly sat up. They were all trembling.

Kaiba raised a shaky hand and stared at it. "What… the hell just happened?" He turned his gaze to the other three. "Did… you all just help me?" He seemed to be in too much shock to replace the icy exterior he always wore.

Anzu put on a brave face. "Of course we did!"

Kaiba cradled his head in his hands and sighed, and then he said no more.

Valon shivered. "I hated that game," he said. "I felt as though I was stripped to the core…"

"Me too…" Rebecca admitted. "But where's the exit?"

The walls were now just bare rock, but there was no obvious exit. There was only mirror on the ground, now. But the answer soon came. Daisuke reappeared through one of the walls. He smirked at them. "Well, good job on the game, you four. It'll only get harder from here on out. This was just a test to see if you had the will to continue. From now on, these games will test you, your wits, your cleverness, and your bending abilities." He clapped his hands twice. "The entrance shall be revealed. Good luck. You'll need it." Daisuke sunk back into the wall and was gone.

The ground rumbled. In one corner of the room, the mirror on the floor vanished. The rock behind it slid back, revealing steps that descended into gloom. Valon stood up. "Time to go," he said.

* * *

**Alright, it SOUNDS like the reflections are throwing out nonsense like trolls do on the internet, but their insults come from the characters themselves. It's those little things that are deep inside, hidden from the world. I'm sure you've all felt it.**

**Hope you enjoyed. And... um... Happy Father's Day, I guess.  
**


	19. Burning

**I saw The Last Airbender. Went to the midnight premier. I was sorely disappointed. And then I want to Lake Tahoe and France...**

**And now I'm really really tired. I wrote the last bit of this chapter practically nodding off, so it's feel is slightly different, I think. But I do owe you, I've left you for like, what, a month now? Anyhoo, enjoy.

* * *

**The four Benders, with no where else to go, walked over the stairs and started to descend into the gloom. However, soon the light from above faded, and they stopped for fear of falling down the stairs. Kaiba had been silent ever since they helped him escape the mirror.

"Anzu, can't you make a fire?" Rebecca asked. "So we can see and, I dunno, not fall to our deaths?"

Anzu swallowed and shook her head before she realized they couldn't see her. "N-no, I can't do that…"

"Why not?" Valon asked. "C'mon, it can't be that bad."

Because she was afraid of it. She was afraid of the raw power, of the searing heat. "I won't do it."

Suddenly, Kaiba spoke up, his voice icy and razor sharp. "Dammit, girl! Just do it, okay? Do it, and we can all move on!"

Sheesh, she thought, that's a nice way to repay his saviors… She sighed. But that jerk was also right. Slightly miffed at Kaiba's returned iciness, she focused on the task at hand. She held her hand out in front of her and imagined energy swirling through the air and through her to congregate in her hand. She steadied her breathing, remembering Roku's words. And then, she flicked her wrist hard, holding her fingers as if around a large ball. Warmth shot to her fingertips, and suddenly there was a soft crackling sound as a jolly little flame bounced out of her palm, hovering and burning steadily. It cast a soft glow on everyone.

Valon put a hand on her shoulder. "See? That wasn't too bad. We knew you had it in ya." Anzu shrugged sheepishly, and in the new light of her fire, they continued descending the stairs.

A few minutes later, they hit level ground. They turned a corner and entered a rather large tunnel. This one, too, was lit by many torches, so Anzu let her flame die out. The stairs had entered the tunnel through the side, so it went deep into darkness to both their right and left.

"It's kinda like a main tunnel in a dungeon," Anzu said. After a pause, she added, "I guess I watch Jounouchi and Yugi play too many video games…"

Kaiba spoke again, less harshly this time. "No, I was just thinking that, too." The four of them stepped out farther into the tunnel and started in a random direction.

"Wait!" Valon suddenly ordered. They stopped and looked at him. "I… I feel something." He pointed into the gloom ahead of him. "Coming towards us!"

Anzu felt it now, too. Whatever it was, it was gigantic, making the whole tunnel shake and rumble. Far off, they saw a shape. "It's a giant boulder!" Rebecca exclaimed. "Valon, can't you stop it?"

His voice shook when he talked. "I-I've never tried stopping anything that big…"

"Forget it," Anzu told him. "Just run!" Not needing to be told twice, they turned and fled. They ran as fast as they could, but they quickly tired. Even adrenaline couldn't help them much. And the boulder was gaining. It filled almost the entire tunnel. It was kind of like being in an Indiana Jones movie. "We need to find a crevice or something!" Anzu said. "To hide in while the boulder passes."

"Good idea," Rebecca agreed. However, before they could duck inside something, the tunnel up ahead split into two equally-large tunnels.

"Go right!" Valon and Rebecca said.

"Go left!" Kaiba and Anzu said at the same time. In the midst of their confusion, the group split. Anzu cursed when she realized they went a different way, and she cursed again when the boulder rumbled down their chosen path. But suddenly, Kaiba grasped her wrist. Hard. "In here!" he said. He pulled her into a small indent in the wall, just deep enough to avoid the boulder, and just wide enough for the two of them. _Just_ wide enough. When Anzu found herself in close proximity with Seto Kaiba, she couldn't stop the blush the rose to her cheek. Squashed together, they waited as the roar of the boulder grew deafeningly loud. It went dark for a few seconds, and then the boulder was off.

Anzu scrambled out of the indent, trying not to gasp for air. The threat of being flattened by a giant rock had scared her half to death, but she wasn't going to show _that_ in front of Kaiba. However, she didn't have much time to catch her breath. With a great rumble, the ground opened up and swallowed them whole.

In darkness they fell, falling in a seemingly endless pit. And then there was light, and they dropped into a large empty cavern. There was a moment of panic before a cushion of air saved them from a bone-crunching fall, and a realization dawned that Valon and Rebecca were with them once more.

Their reunion was short-lived, for vines dropped from the ceiling and wrapped tightly around the four of them, lifting them up off the ground. This was followed by many exclamations and shouts of surprise, of course. Anzu took a deep breath and focused on burning her vines away. They blackened and shriveled, and she dropped to the floor. Just as she turned to burn the vines away from her friends, something snorted behind her. The three captives' eyes widened, and Anzu whipped around to face a monster that almost touched the ceiling of the cavern.

It was large and hulking like an ape, with red and black mottled skin like cracked, dried lava. Its head was rather small for its body, its eyes black and beady. A pair of tusks protruded from its lower lips, and as it opened its mouth to roar, Anzu could see a mouth of sharp teeth. She didn't have any time to be stunned, for it raised a giant arm and threw a fist. She was forced to dive and roll to the side as bits of debris and rock flew in all directions.

She glanced back at her fellow Benders to see the vines wrap around their mouths, preventing them from speaking. But she didn't need words for the look Kaiba gave her: Defeat the monster or else. She blew a strand of hair out of her eyes and wished she had a hair tie, or at least a headband. She stood up and faced the hulking beast, her arms out in front of her as she prepared for a fight she felt she wasn't ready for.

But not before Daisuke decided to pop up. He grinned at her cheerfully, and she wanted to chuck a fireball at him.

"Hello, dear Firebender," he started. "This is the first of our lovely array of games. The rules of this one are simple: defeat the monster and save your friends. But you'll also have to conquer your fears, and find the pattern. Good luck, and game start." As soon as Daisuke finished, the monster roared and charged at Anzu, who was still digesting the spirit's words. The spirit disappeared from sight, and Anzu once again dove out of the way of the monster's fist. Struggling to keep her breath, she aimed a Firebending kick at its head, but the fire fell short, and she had to roll again anyway.

She was hit with a staggering, crippling fear all at once. What if she couldn't do it? What if her friends died, and it was all her fault? Because she couldn't bend squat. Everyone else was already much better, and she was stuck far behind. The monster turned on her once more, but she couldn't move. Her knees shook, and her arms trembled. There was no way she could defeat this beast. Not with her skills.

She closed her eyes. Maybe she should just let the monster flatten her, and let it be over quickly.

_You're a dancer_, a deep voice whispered in her ear. She thought it sounded familiar, but the state of things didn't allow her to question much. _Use it._

And suddenly, she knew what to do. This fight took on a completely different meaning. She snapped her eyes open, and twirled out of the way of the monster's fist. She felt passion bubble up from deep inside, a warm tingly feeling that filled her whole frame. She danced and ducked and leaped and spun around the monster, at home in her body. The warm passion extended past her fingertips in the form of fire, and with a shining blast, burned the monster to a crisp.

When it was over, she was breathing heavily. She turned to her three hanging companions and burned the vines so that they dropped to the floor and detangled themselves.

"Took you long enough," Kaiba scoffed, crossing his arms. Anzu delightedly ignored him. Her mood turned sour, however, when Daisuke reappeared, clapping his hands slowly.

"Bravo, bravo," the spirit said. "The next path is revealed, but your game, Anzu dear, is never fully over." His stare rested on the brunette as a section of wall behind him dissolved away. Anzu repressed a shiver. "You've unlocked one secret of fire, but you'll see that for every good, there is bad." And he faded away without another word.

* * *

**Oh dangit, Anzu's chapters are always a little shorter... Oh well. Hope you enjoyed it. I'm... kinda sorta happy with out it turned out, despite sitting partly finished on my computer for a month. And who is that little voice...? Well, as always, please review. Your reviews make me happy.**


	20. Asphyxiating

**Oh dear god. This took forever to write.**

**I wanted to write another chapter. I really did. But this just wasn't coming to me. *sigh* I tried my best... Hope you enjoy anyway...**

**In brief summary, Anzu completed a challenge, and now it is Rebecca's turn...

* * *

**The four Benders walked through the stone archway that Daisuke had created. Rebecca was impatient as they entered a dim cavern with a ceiling that stretched high into darkness. It was her turn to fight, wasn't it? She marched on ahead of the group, despite Anzu advising her not to stray away from them.

She tripped and nearly fell flat on her face over a raised ledge. Arms swinging, she flipped over and landed back on her feet. "Watch out guys," she called back. "There's steps or something here." Anzu summoned a flame, but it seemed to sputter and struggle in the oppressive shadows. "Ugh, Anzu, your fire is pathetic."

Suddenly, a square-shaped section of the floor beneath her lit up in a bright white light. She shouted in surprise, and her three companions stepped back, shielding their eyes from the light. She jumped up and floated away, landing lightly back of the ground. The floor she was on seemed smooth and flat, almost like glass. A soft, high-pitched ringing filled the room.

"What was that!" Valon cried.

Rebecca glanced around, expecting Daisuke to pop out and give them the rules. But the spirit was no where to be seen. Everyone was tense and alert, ready to bend at a moment's notice. "What's going on?" she asked her equally-clueless Benders.

"Could this be another game?" Anzu mused.

Rebecca huffed. "Well, what _else_ would it be?" she snapped haughtily. Another square of light erupted beneath her, the high-pitched noise becoming slightly louder. With another startled yelp, she leapt to another location.

She glanced over at the other three to see Kaiba wince slightly and bring a hand to his ear. "Doesn't anyone else hear that ringing sound?"

"Yeah," Anzu said, "but I just assumed that was my ears just ringing…"

"Well, it's making my head ache!" the CEO snapped.

"Quit overreacting," Rebecca ordered. "It's just some noise." Once again, light burst from underneath her feet. It seemed that she was on a grid, and these huge squares lit up, making the ringing rise in volume.

"Maybe you should come back over he–" Valon started to suggest, only to be interrupted by Anzu's shriek.

From the light of the squares, they could see hundreds of small dark dots the size of quarters all over her skin and clothes. They crawled and squirmed. Spiders. Valon leaped to help, brushing the spiders off as Anzu did a sort of squeamish dance.

Kaiba stepped forward and ordered Valon to step aside. He quickly bent water out of his canteen and wrapped it around Anzu, pulling the spiders off and dropping them to the side. Valon crushed the escaped ones with stones. Once the whole fiasco was over, Anzu sighed in relief. "I'd hug you, but I won't…" she gasped to Kaiba. But then, Daisuke appeared in front of Kaiba.

"Tsk tsk tsk," the spirit clucked. Kaiba took a step back. "You shouldn't have done that. That's against the rules in this Game."

"You didn't tell us the rules!" the Waterbender spat.

Daisuke grinned, holding up a spider. It wriggled between his fingers, trying to escape. "That's the point of the game. You don't know the rules. You have to figure them out this time. These spiders have a hallucinogenic venom, you know. Since you broke the rules…" Daisuke's hand moved fast as lighting and grabbed Kaiba's wrist. Before anyone could react, the spider had been thrust onto his skin, and the poor frightened and confused spider bit down. Kaiba pulled away, but staggered as the venom started to spread.

Daisuke floated up to the ceiling, grinning. "The game started as soon as Rebecca had stepped onto the stage. Have fun figuring out the rules!" And he disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

Rebecca marched about the stage as Valon and Anzu huddled around Kaiba, who was rapidly losing consciousness and starting to babble nonsense. She didn't dare leave the raised floor lest she break another rule. "Well, it seems that you guys using bending is against the rules, since this is my game," she mused out loud. "But we can still talk." She stopped and glared down at her three companions. "Gah, why did Kaiba have to be so stupid! I thought he was smarter than that, but obviously I have the highest intelligence here…" She was cut off as once more the floor lit up beneath her. With and angry shriek she stomped down on the square beneath her. "This whole thing is stupid! Why didn't he tell us the rules!"

Suddenly the light flashed a blood red. A voice echoed somewhere above. "That's against the rules. Punishment shall be enacted." The high-pitched ringing's volume skyrocketed, making everyone clutch their ears. The cavern shook as something heavy joined Rebecca on the platform from the other side of the room. And then… all was silent. The three still-conscious Benders looked on as a large bipedal creature rose up in front of the blonde. Its skin was covered in huge obsidian scales, and it was purely stocky, its feet and legs little more than tree trunks. Its arms were long as well as thick, much like an ape. Its beady little eyes glowed red as it open its mouth almost the length of its body, showing the dark tunnel of its throat. Rebecca was almost blasted off the stage with the scream that followed.

After the noise ended, her eardrums thrummed, on the verge of popping painfully. She glanced back at the other Benders. Kaiba had passed out, and Anzu and Valon were stunned, clutching their ears. She stared defiantly back at the beast, trying not to tremble. How was she going to defeat this thing? She didn't even know what she could and couldn't do…

She took a deep breath. _Think, Rebecca, think!_ she told herself. She gathered the air around her and slashed at the monster, a scythe of wind spinning swiftly towards it. It raised its arms, the wind dissipating harmlessly against its scales. It opened its mouth again to scream, but this time she knew what was coming. Moving her arms quickly in large swinging motions, she summoned up a huge gale. So when the monster screamed, the sound was absorbed by the wind.

The creature took a giant step towards her, making the ground shudder. She ran forwards, and when it swung an arm down at her, she dove, rolling under it. On the other side of it, she rolled and jumped, twisting around in the air. It was too slow to turn fast enough to prevent her from landing on its back, scrabbling to find purchase on the scales. It grumbled in frustration, trying to reach her on its back, but its arms were too thick.

With the aid of airbending, Rebecca managed to climb to the top of its head. Its crown was strangely flat. Gathering her air again, she slashed at the only weak spot she could see – its eyes. With an earsplitting howl, it stumbled backwards, blind. Rebecca took a leap of faith off its head as it fell and crashed behind her. It bubbled and sunk into the ground as the voice sounded again. "That's against the rules. Punishment shall be enacted."

"Oh great," Rebecca muttered. How was she supposed to win the game? Defeating the monster didn't do anything, it just broke another rule! The ground rumbled once more, and she stepped back, expecting another monster to appear. Instead, square by square, the parts of the stage against the wall opposite Rebecca dropped off, leaving only a pit. She moved backwards as about half the platform fell away to nothingness. She moaned in helplessness and fell to her knees, tugging at her hair.

A voice whispered softly in her ear. She heard, "_Take the leap of faith. With friends it is never too far of a drop._" She jerked up and looked around. She thought she recognized it, but…

She glanced back at her three comrades. An idea had sparked in her. "Grab Kaiba!" she snapped, leaping off the stage.

The voice once more rang from above. "That's against the rules. Punishment shall be enacted." She ignored it, trying to hoist the limp and sweating Kaiba up on her own. Once Valon and Anzu snapped out of their surprise, they rushed to help Rebecca. The entire cavern was quaking, rocks falling out of the darkness above.

"Carry him onto the stage! Follow me – trust me!" Rebecca called, urging them onward. The stage was about two feet off the ground, and getting Kaiba up there was no big problem. They reach the pit in no time. "Jump," ordered Rebecca.

The other Benders stared at her incredulously. "_What_!" Anzu cried.

"Just do it! And hold on to Kaiba," she added, shoving them all into the vast hole in the ground. She leaped in right after them. Down they fell, screaming, spread-eagled. Rebecca tried to focus, waving her hands to slow their fall. Soon enough, a pinprick of light came into view below them. Ground was rushing up fast. Working as quickly as she could, Rebecca formed a bubble of air beneath them to cushion their fall.

The landing was less than graceful. They bounced and rolled away from each other on the hard rock. But besides some bruises and scratches, they were unharmed. Adrenaline that had pumped through her veins receded, and Rebecca lay there for a few minutes, letting herself rest. Finally, however, she managed to find the strength to push herself up and look around.

The room was long and narrow, with a river taking up half of the hall – much like a sewer. But the water was clear and cold. Daisuke dropped down from the hole in the ceiling from which they had fallen and hovered in the center of them.

"Congratulations," he said, scowling. "You won. But you won't be able to help the next gamer at all, for it will be entirely… in his mind."

* * *

**That's like the card game Mao. :[ I hate that game. They don't tell you the rules, and you have to figure them out for yourself... and you can't talk either... **

**So... please review... even though this chapter was probably crap. I've found Rebecca easy, yet at the same time, very difficult to write. Ahh, the next chapter is Kaiba. I can write him :3  
**


	21. Waterfall

**I apologize for the previous chapter. I always seem to have a harder time thinking up games for Rebecca… Someday I will go back and rewrite all of her sections. Please, I'm always open for suggestions for these things.**

**Now, after Kaiba's and Anzu's games, they'll find the Nymphs and finally get the hell out of there XD Enjoy! Remember, this is all inside Kaiba's head now.**

* * *

Kaiba walked out of the low Japanese-style building and into the warm sunshine, not hesitating to step into a Bender's Pool. Where he was, the Bender's Pool was rectangular and but a foot deep, with a round, three-level fountain bubbling in the center. To his right it dropped off into a waterfall, the sparkling liquid cascading into a deeper section. There were stairs on either side of the fall leading down for those who did not wish to jump. Down below the pool was L-shaped, hugging the tall brown fence as it hooked to the right and grew shallower the further it was from the waterfall.

It was the second to last day of classes, and exams had just ended. Fellow benders were enjoying the release in the Bender's Pool, most of them down below, swimming and splashing and laughing. Kaiba looked back towards the low squat building with the sloping roof he just came out of and blanked. What was he doing here? He didn't recognize this place at all…

But then his brain supplied the information. He was a Waterbender. His parents sent him to this private school. The entirety of the campus was behind him, sprawled out over a few acres. He was a freshman at this school. He was at the top of his class. He was the number one student. The only thing he was second in was in the fighting class, and then he was only just behind Katara.

But wait, who was Katara again? His brain once again suddenly reminded him. She was the young girl with the hair loopies and tan skin and blue eyes. She was a Waterbender as well, very stubborn, and donned water tribe clothing. In the rest of the classes, she was either second or third best.

It was she who appeared now, exiting the building behind him and putting a hand on her hip, smirking. "Tests weren't so bad, now, where they?" she taunted. She had watched him with his performance exam. The teacher always praised his artfulness, but throughout the year begged him to be quicker on his feet, that he didn't need to look pretty in a fight, but fast and powerful. Whereas the teacher adored Katara, for being exactly that – fast and powerful.

Kaiba huffed. "I think I did my water whip quite well, thank you very much." He smirked. "If anything was easy, it was the written exam."

It was Katara's turn to glower. She did not test particularly well and often had to study for long hours to get the coveted high grades on them. "Oh yeah, well let's see your water whip, then."

Kaiba took his stance and, with the desire not to whip anyone, faced the fountain. He picked up some of the water, and in one smooth motion rolled it back and launched it forward. With a satisfying cracking sound, the water slapped against the side of the fountain. He was proud of it, but he heard Katara snigger. He sent an icy glare in her direction.

"The teacher's right," she snickered. "You _do_ try to be so pretty while fighting. Do it more like this." She repeated his motions, but to him it seemed so much cruder and less refined. He didn't want to stoop to that level. He just glared when she proudly stuck her tongue out at him. "A battle is not a dance, y'know." And then Aang pranced from somewhere, and laughing, Katara ran and joined him. The two jumped off the waterfall together.

Scowling, Kaiba walked back towards the building, heading for the shade. One of his teachers came out, and he recognized her as the fighting instructor. She grasped his arm and smiled at him. For some reason the smile seemed plastic to him. "Congratulations!" she said. "You aced your exam. What else can I expect from Seto Kaiba, eh? I'm so proud of you."

Kaiba squeezed out a thanks and excused himself to pack. As he passed through the building to get to the dorm buildings, he suddenly stopped. There was something wrong about this place. It was too bright, the colors too vivid, time seemed to have no rules… He felt as though he was dreaming.

This reality seemed to bend when he started thinking that, almost like it was sticky. It was holding him there. But the thought slipped from his mind, as much as he tried to grasp at it. He had to go pack. His parents were picking him up tomorrow. Everyone was celebrating the end of the school year. He had to pack. He continued on to the dorms.

There were two different dorms – one for each gender. In each dorm, there were four floors, with one assigned to each element. First floor was earth, second was fire, third was water, and fourth was air. There were no elevators. Elevators would have seemed out of place here, though he wished there was one. Nevertheless he trekked upstairs and gathered all his belongings together. His parents were picking him up tomorrow, he had to be ready.

Night came without warning. It barely passed through his thoughts that enough time had passed for the sun to set when the sky turned dark. _Strange_, he thought. But was it really? He just hadn't been paying attention to the time, that's all. But he wasn't tired at all. So he headed out of his dorm and back to the Bender's Pool. The fountain always soothed him, and that was where he found himself.

He sat there alone for a while. He loved this place, and were it not for his family, he wouldn't have wanted to leave at all. He missed Mokuba, and couldn't wait to just embrace all of them. But this place was like another home, and his heart ached to leave it behind. But he would be here next year…

"_Remember where you are,_" a voice rang out. He jumped. Where did that voice come from? He thought he recognized it. But wait, what did it say? He couldn't remember… Ah, it probably wasn't important. "_You've fallen into his trap,_" reminded the voice. There it was again. "_Kaiba!_" This was a shout, and he jumped again, his head whipping back and forth to try and find the source of the voice.

"What are you looking for?" came a different voice behind him. He whirled around to face Katara, who stepped into the Bender's Pool to approach him.

"Nothing," he said quickly. "Er, at least, I don't remember… There was… something…"

She came up right in front of him, not even a foot between their bodies. She was so short next to him… "Alright, I'll just assume you're crazy then, and hearing disembodied voices."

He chuckled. "Oh yes, they tell me all the answers to the tests."

Katara fake-pouted. "That explains everything!" she exclaimed, grinning. She looked up. "Aren't the stars beautiful tonight?" He followed her gaze and saw the stars. It almost took his breath away. Thousands upon thousands of tiny, twinkling white lights were scattered across the night sky like a blanket of glitter. He didn't even know that there could be that many stars. After all, he lived in a city now, and you didn't get many stars in a city.

A city? No, he grew up in a suburb, far from a city… why did he think he lived in a city?

He looked back down at Katara. The stars were reflected in her blue eyes. "But they can't hope to match your beauty," he said.

"Shall we be alone?" she suggested, raising one hand. Kaiba, too, raised one hand, and two thick tendrils of water rose, twisting around each other and freezing. The two were inside a tall twisting tower of ice. Despite the ice, though, it was warm. Or was that just his face?

He wrapped his arms around the small of her back, holding her close. As they leaned closer together, the ice suddenly turned and angry red. Fire exploded around them, destroying their frozen tower. They leapt apart and turned to face Aang and Zuko, their faces furious. The Avatar looked even more livid than Zuko.

"Why are you even _near_ him, Katara!" Aang demanded, still in a fighting stance with a fist aimed at Kaiba.

"Sorry, _Dad_," Katara replied angrily. "I didn't know I wasn't allowed to talk to whoever I wanted. Why do you guys even hate Kaiba that much!"

"I don't trust him," Zuko scowled, his fist also aimed at Kaiba. It took a lot of effort for the male Waterbender to hold his ground and not take a step back. He raised his hands in self-defense.

"Hey now, how about we all just go to bed now?" he suggested, keeping his voice steady. He did not feel like getting burned tonight. "Come tomorrow, you don't have to see me for an entire summer."

A whirl of motions that he didn't quite remember later, he was lying down in his bed. Other male Waterbenders were gently snoring all around him, but he couldn't sleep. There was something… off about where he was right now. And every time he thought about maybe being in a dream, the air became sticky and thick, as if trying to hold him there. Gah! He wished that morning would come sooner.

He must've fallen asleep, for as soon as that wish had passed his mind, the sun was rising above the trees outside the tall fence surrounding the campus. All the students were moving, running out to the entrance to wait for their families to come pick them up.

Family… Kaiba was almost like an Airbender, he jumped out of bed so fast. He didn't run, but he pushed his way past people on the stairs, walking quickly to the entrance. He felt like he hadn't seen his parents in about a decade.

He stopped suddenly, making a person behind him bump into him. The person shouted at him and walked around. Since… when did he have parents? He thought they died a long time ago… and the only parent he remembered well enough had a bad feeling surrounding the thought. He shook his head. No, what was he thinking? His parents were probably waiting for him now, little Mokuba holding his mother's hand. He mustn't keep them waiting. Mother and Father always came early for their sons.

His long legs took him quickly across the campus, and he made it to the front gates in no time at all. There he immediately spotted his family, standing in front of a parked minivan. His knees went weak as he fell into a group hug. His mother's long brown hair was in a low ponytail, her gray eyes twinkling as she hugged her son. His father's black hair was cut short, with dark blue eyes that looked down proudly at his eldest child. Mokuba hugged his big brother as best he could with the ginourmous height difference.

His parents were exactly as he remembered. Sweet and loving, offering him all the opportunities he could possibly want, willing to drive him to and fro to activities and sports. His eyes burned with the unfamiliar threat of tears. Oh, how he missed them. He didn't even realize it. After Mokuba was born, and Mother became so sick… Father was changed for the years before he went away, too.

"Mommy, Daddy, I missed you," he whispered hoarsely, squeezing them tight.

"Son, let's go home," his father said, patting him on the back.

"_If you leave with them, you'll never get out._" It was that voice again. Kaiba pulled back suddenly, staring at his parents as the scene around him darkened. The clear sky had turned dark gray with heavy rain clouds. They were exactly as he remembered… but that's never how things were in real life. When he went to his great-aunt's house once after two years, an Arabian rug he swore was gold turned out to be scarlet.

Pressure seemed to build all around him, pushing down on his skin. The air became difficult to breath. This wasn't real. His mother died years ago with the birth of Mokuba, and his father only lived with her memory for a few years later, before dying in the night on an overdose of sleeping pills.

"What's wrong, Seto dear?" his mother asked, genuinely worried. How could something so sweet be false? He shook his head. How could he even doubt his own mother's existence?

"_They're trying to trick you into staying,_" continued the voice. It sounded familiar, now that he thought about it… He stood back, looking hard at his parents. But now he couldn't seem to focus on them. They became blurs. The world whirled around him, the colors blending together in one multicolored kaleidoscope. A golden Eye of Horus appeared in front of him and he grabbed at it, quickly becoming sick with the spinning colors.

This place was not real. He did not belong there. He had to get out.

So he lunged for the Eye of Horus. Somehow, deep down, he knew it would help him. His fingers curled around cool metal, and an image flashed in front of him. A familiar tri-colored hair boy, with a smirk. "_Remember me?_" and then the figure was swept away by the colors. All of the hues blended together and became a blinding white, followed by a deafening silence.

And then like a sonic boom, sounds and color rushed back into his senses. Running water, people talking, fire light, dirt floor. All overwhelmed him as he lurched upwards, gasping as if he hadn't breathed for a year. Anzu, Valon, and Rebecca immediately looked over from where they had gathered together.

Daisuke appeared in his mind's eye, but the image was so strong that it could have been right in front of him. All he did was wink and then disappear in a flash of flame and fire, but he knew the message. Oh yes, he knew what Daisuke was saying, even as choked tears rose to the surface.

He might have gotten out of that mind trap, but it if hadn't been for the man who looked like Yugi, he would have never survived.

* * *

**Lulz, enjoy the little Katara/Kaiba shipping there? XD Ahahaha, no, I'm not actually going to ship them. This was a dream world, remember. Nothing is SUPPOSED to make sense. **

**Oh, and he was on the verge of tears at the end because he missed his parents... and I guess he felt kind of hopeless too. Meh :\ not very clear, I know. Hope you enjoyed! And yes, I realize this wasn't entirely a Game. It's... something that appeared in my dream :DDDD (no really, I dreamed it, and I've been wanting to use it...)**


End file.
